Winds of Change
by Dat Salvadorean Chic
Summary: Randall Boggs returns to Monstropolis with the goal to turn a new leaf, but after realizing that Monsters, Inc. is converted to a laugh factory, he seeks help and friendship from a young Loch Ness named Vanessie, who becomes his assistant, and soon helps her find her long lost mother Nessie, with life-or-death risks in the process...
1. Prologue

Winds of Change-A Monsters, Inc. fanfic

Prologue

It was a beautiful morning in Monstropolis; the birds were singing, the flowers turned with open petals facing the sun. Everything seemed all in place and at peace. Happy monsters were greeting each other with glee as if everyone knew each other all their lives. Not a single thing was out of place, except Randall Boggs.

See, he returned to the Monster World a few weeks ago, suffering from a deep gash close to his eye that was wasn't much cared for and skin irritated from living in the bayou for so long. He had to adapt to the Human World by scavenging for food and shelter, often taken away by predators like alligators and some birds of prey, suffering even more minor injuries from the fights he had with those animals in desperation.

It was as if the world was after him, or at least he thought that. But during that whole time, he was planning a way to go back home to get revenge on the fur rug and his one eyed friend. But failure after failure, he was determined to get out of this horrid place. However, the more he tried, the more the thought of revenge was fading away. Perhaps I do deserve it, he would often think to himself whenever a plan failed. As time passed slowly, the thought of having revenge seemed effortless. It didn't seem to matter anymore. He thought of all this as his fate, his punishment, his future of nothingness. It ached him to even think about it while he lay on the cold mud in a dark cave. But no matter the unfortunate thoughts, he kept trying. He even promised himself that he would make a change for himself if he does happen to return back. If he could survive and live from it all.

But it was only a matter of time, and he wasn't sure of it. But after many dangerous trials, he finally made it. He found a door leading straight to the Monster World. But he didn't want to create big news of his return, so he tried to hide out of sight to be invisible. He allowed himself to be seen by a few people, as if to show the world the terrible trials he lived through without fear, even though he was very much afraid on the inside, but that caused word out saying that he returned.

He should've known that hiding wouldn't do anything, but he was sure he'd get caught sometime. Soon enough, he had to go face to face with Sulley again, fighting away the hate that he used to have with him. They talked for a while and set aside their ways. There was a bit of an argument in-between, in which Randall would've expected this change being hard for him, but overall, he had a slightly better attitude than he used to, but he had a lot to work on.

This morning, however, he woke up in the wrong side of the bed… literally. Fortunately, he was able to obtain his apartment once he arrived but he had a lot of work to do when it came to tidying up the place. He did most of the cleaning, but some things were out of place due to lethargy and laziness.

Now he looked around the room in the still silence. The sun shone through the glass bringing in a gold-ish glow in his apartment that seemed warm and comforting. Particles of dust floating in beams of light were gliding everywhere. He felt calm. For the first time, he had a long, lingering sleep; something he lacked when he was part of Waternoose's scheme. Staying up late at work, trying to keep everything secret, growing to be very cold and nasty because of that. Here really needed a long sleep.

As he got up from his bed, he felt a stinging pain on his back. He's still sore from living in the bayou, but it was a softer pain than it used to be, which was good for him, at least. He stretched a little to relieve the pain. He took a few pain killers from his bedstand to help in the least, even though he knew that the pain will still be there later. Like a scar. Like the one on his face.

As if his lizard face was ugly enough.

After that, he walked over to the bathroom to check himself in the mirror. His scar is healing slowly, but not much changed. He touched it gently and remembered how dark and cruel it was in the lonely bayou.

"No," he whispered. "I will not be the same guy I was." He sighed, then continued, "This is my second chance and I'll take advantage of it…"


	2. Chapter 1

Winds of Change-A Monsters, Inc. fanfic

Chapter 1

"What do you mean Fungus is taken care of?" the chameleon monster asked in a rather annoyed fashion.

After waking up from his long sleep, Randall checked the clock and realized he slept in too much. He definitely took advantage of all that relaxation in one night. He rushed to the company after that as fast as he could. When he arrived, he met up with Sullivan again, which was then he realized that he was the new CEO of the company. He figured that the fur rug had a better life after he was tossed away, but he never guessed that he would be the big guy. And here he was, wanting to work for him. He then remembered what he said to Wazowski the last time he was here; "Even the great James P. Sullivan is gonna be working for ME." He felt a slight pang of guilt when he approached his new boss just remembering that remark.

But when they were in Sullivan's office, Randall was left aghast when he was told that his partner, Fungus, was on his own; as a Laugher. He did not know how to make children laugh. Unless a child thought his scars were hilarious, he thought he'd be hopeless. But knowing that Sullivan is helping him personally, this is his one chance of getting himself back together. But he would have to make a huge effort to thrive in this new job.

"I'm sorry, Randall. He already has his own assistant." Sullivan said in his gruff but kind voice. "But as of now, you're employed as a Laugher."

"I'm... I'm no entertainer, Sullivan." Randall said in his calmest voice, even though he was irritated beyond belief that he was left alone. "I can't be a Laugher on my own."

"Randall, if you want the job—"

"No, I do want the job," Randall interrupted. "I will try my best; my hardest. But the real problem here is who will be my assistant, then?"

Sullivan sighed then and slipped out a file from his desk drawer. As Randall looked through the file, Sullivan explained that the lizard's new assistant was a young monster named Vanessa "Vanessie" Jazmine Loch. When he read the name, his eyes widened in surprise and was so interested that he ignored everything Sullivan said then.

He remembered hearing that Loch Ness, or "Nessie", was banished many years ago and was never heard from again. He then figured that this "Vanessie" could be her daughter or granddaughter. He couldn't be sure. But learning that a possible spawn of Nessie herself still in Monstropolis confused him so. Had she been abandoned, how could she have thrived all this time; about 20 years, without her mother. His head throbbed and he closed his eyes to ease the throbbing. He was still trying to get used to things around here.

As Sullivan went on, sounding like gibberish echoing quietly on his mind, Randall went through the pages of the file. He saw her photo and personal info. She was light-aqua skinned with black spots on her face. Three on each cheek, he noticed. Her eyes were very dark brown, for he noticed the flash of the photo made a small flicker of chocolate brown on each of her eyes. She had thick eyelashes, a round snout and a shy mouth. What really intrigues him was the color of her short, boyish hair. It was a vibrant red color, which made him curious since he remembered seeing old newspapers of Nessie and she had black hair. He wondered if this Vanessie dyed her hair this way. All in all, from what he saw in this face shot of Vanessie, he admitted that she was pretty.

He looked through her personal info and saw that she was 23 years old. Two years his junior. But even though they were a few years apart, it's obvious he's be the ugliest of the two. He thought how they'd look like working together: the pretty porpoise monster being assistant to a beaten and scarred lizard. How could Sullivan pair them up like this?

"So you're having me work with Vanessie, huh?" Randall interrupted his boss.

"Ah, yes," Sullivan said bluntly. "Why do you ask?"

It was a while that Randall sat silently, his eyes looming over the single picture he held of her, wondering about her and her history. This information was pretty much worthless to know much about this monster. For all he knew, he didn't want to become a burden to her.

"Nothing..."

"Is there something we need to elaborate?"

Randall thought before he said straight out, "Was she left alone? After Nessie was gone?"

"Well—"

He was about to explain until there was a knock on the door.

"Come in." Sullivan said.

The door creaked open and Celia Mae's head popped inside. "Hey, Sulley. I got someone here for you. Are you busy to speak with her?" she said as she gave a detesting glare at Randall. Had he been the Randall before, he would flicked a tongue at her and chuckled, but instead, he ignored her and shook his head in an annoyed fashion.

"Oh, let her in." Sullivan said cheerful manner.

When Celia opened the door completely, Randall saw her; now not as an emotionless photo.

Vanessie stood outside the door in a shy pose; one impatient foot behind the other, which he noticed were stained black to the ankle. One arm was raised timidly to behind her flipper-ear to fix her red hair, her forearms also stained black, looking like gloves. Her body, like her face was covered in black spots, and her underbelly was a pale light green color. But he stared at her extremely shy eyes. Immediately then, he could see a sense of fear in them. He figured it was his scar giving the horrible impression. Already, he felt like a burden to her.

"Come in, come in, sweetie." Sullivan said soothingly, stretching an arm to her.

She approached him suddenly, her eyes still lingering over Randall's scar until she fixed her gaze to her boss and shook hands with him.

"Thank you for the job, sir." she said in a balanced and calm voice. "I really needed it."

"Oh, call me Sulley. And it's no trouble, Vanessie." Sulley said, smiling warmly at the young monster.

"Ok, Sulley." she said neutrally before she looked back at Randall in the corner of her eye.

He knew she was nervous with him now. She entwined her fingers of her hands behind her back when she walked to her seat next to Randall's. He also noticed her not sitting fully on her seat; she left a small space of the seat vacant, he guessed, to be carefully away from him as possible. He couldn't blame her, but he felt worse that he grew angry with himself.

"Well, you came on time, Vanessie." Sulley said with a smile.

He spotted the girl give a slight shudder at the corner of his eye. It did feel a bit chilly in the room, but he also suspected it to be his own presence. It had to be the second. So far, he was intimidating her and he hasn't done or said anything to her yet.

"To get this going, I've chosen you two to be partners." We get it, Mr. Obvious. Randall thought to himself. "Vanessie here will be your assistant, Randall, and Vanessie... You will help out Randall in his new job here as a Laugher."

Vanessie said nothing, but nodded.

"Randall, I want you to help Vanessie out with how things work around here. It's about the same as before but more... Laugh-centered." Sulley advised.

"Sure, yeah." was Randall's only sarcasticresponse.

"Well, that's all I have to say to you two. The rest you can do on your own. Any questions?"

"I have one, sir—eh, Sulley." Vanessie blurted out suddenly. "Umm, may you tell me the hours I work here? Because I have another job someplace else for the night."

"Oh. It's up to four in the afternoon." Sulley said calmly.

"Oh, that'll do, thanks. My other job starts at six, so I guess it's fine." she said. Again, neutrally.

"You're welcome. Anything else?"

The room was silent for a few second when Randall was thinking about Vanessie having two jobs. He caught a glimpse of her foot repeatedly moving up and down impatiently. He figured she was very stressed and worried. He sighed.

"Well then, I guess that's it. Randall, you can start helping Vanessie around here and I wish the best for both of you."

"Thank you," Vanessie uttered.

Sulley got up to escort the two to the door when the young loch ness stood up and followed. Randall followed her confusedly and after Vanessie left the door, he stayed behind beside Sulley at the door and asked him, "You were about to tell me about her."

Sulley only whispered to him, "Bond with her. It's better to hear from her personally than from me."

Randall was disappointed. Inside, he grew angrier with himself, but he kept his composure and caught up to Vanessie.

Walking a few feet away from her, he never knew how to approach anyone kindly, let alone to a girl. He wasnt very fond of the opposite sex besides his own mother, whom he lost many years ago with his brother, Ned. He never knew his father, but he remembered his mother being so loving to him. She was perhaps his only light in his childhood. But other than her, he had no relationship to women. Even when he went to college, he was avoided since he had the very appearance of a nerd. He didn't have time for girls then, anyway. He was far too studious to be into that. But he now regretted not to be acquainted with skills to at least start small talk with girls.

He was so bad at starting a conversation that he stated with, "So, you have two jobs, huh?"

He clenched his teeth at the stupid and obvious question. But he was relieved a little when Vanessie replied.

"Yeah. I guess you can tell that I am a bit busy. I got a lot on my hands."

"And why is that?"

"Well, I try hard to... You know, keep up with everything."

"Sounds like it's hard."

"Where are you going with this, Randall Boggs?"

Randall stopped and squinted his eyes at her. "I'm trying to be nice, Vanessie."

"Please, call me by my real name, Vanessa. Not Vanessie. It bugs me..." she said in an irritated way.

"Okay, Vanessa, but it seems like so far, I'm putting the most effort into this stupid bonding charade."

"Then stop. Trying wouldn't do any good." Vanessa said coldly.

"You're being irrational."

"Not like you were years ago, right?"

"How did you—"

"The friend of our boss told me."

Wazowski. Randall may have put things aside, but now, being responsible for giving him a bad impression will earn Wazowski a nice whipping.

"I try to forget that."

"Well, I can't." she said quietly but spitefully.

Randall then changed his expression to one with hatred and adjusted his scales to look a darker shade of purple, narrowing his eyes at the young loch ness.

"Of course... Just like everyone else." he said. "I don't know what it is... My past, my appearance... Or my race..." he continued. "But just for you, I'll make it worth your while. You don't want Mr. Nice Guy, so be it."

Vanessa glared at him with narrowed eyes, like a cat's. "Whatever floats your boat."

"Now get out there and listen to whatever I say."

"Fine."


	3. Chapter 2

Winds of Change-A Monsters Inc. fanfic

Chapter 2

The last few hours were the worst of Vanessa's life. She had to go through Randall's cold remarks and loathing commands; hauling this there, punching this, confirming that, organizing this, programming that. It was so much that she tried to take notes, but that irritated Randall because it meant that it took longer for the lessons to be done and he wanted to get things over with this girl.

When at first Randall thought that he would be a shy but nice girl, he saw the reality that she was just a grouchy and messed up lass. Just like he was. But she's getting what she deserves, he thought. I tried to be kind to her. I tried to reason with her. Heck, I tried to bond with her. But would she cooperate with it? Nope. She didn't give a crap about whether he wanted to help her out or not. So then he won't give a crap about how she feels about his scolding. He won't at all. She's getting what she deserves.

But something surprised Randall when the Laugh Floor was about to start its session. He noticed some new equipment around. Where the assistant makes paperwork was a computer monitor of the inside of a child's room. It wasn't the best footage, but the resolution was high enough to see things a bit clearly in the room. There were also two small earphones, one for each partner, that would serve as a communication tool for ideas an assistant could give to their Laugher.

It was clever, Randall thought. It was very new, but he knew that they would get used to it. At least he knew he would. Vanessa would suffer under his wing. of course, he wouldn't be too hard on her, but he wanted to teach her a lesson on underestimating his intentions.

"This seems simple," Randall said as he put on his earpiece. "Very smart for them to upgrade like this."

Vanessa didn't say anything. She was busy filling out paperwork of the door on the platform at the moment and needed to focus with what lessons she had from Randall.

Randall looked away from her and waited for everyone to prepare. When he looked around, all he saw was idiocy everywhere. Monsters were putting on clown suits, stupid glasses and blowing balloons. He must've been the most unfitting monster there, the monster with a terrible scar near his eye.

How could he make a kid laugh? How would he? He tried thinking of different things. Should I blend in? What? No. How is that funny? How about crossing my eyes? No, the kids'll probably think that is creepy. What do I do, then?

"Hey, Vanessa, you got any advice for this?" he asked.

"Sure, break a leg." the porpoise monster said as she put on her earpiece.

"Well, aren't you very funny." Randall said spitefully.

"Just try to get ready. I don't have time for your whining at me."

"Whining?"

"Yeah, whining over this and that. Now prepare. I see the sign flashing to get ready."

Everybody was, in fact, preparing for the session. When Randall turned his head, he could see Sulley standing with his best friend, Wazowski, and he sent him a thumbs up good luck.

Randall only nodded in response.

"We are on in seven... Six..." the announcer of the Laugh Floor yelled out. "Five... Four... Three..."

Vanessa turned on her monitor and saw the room with the sleeping child, then looked at Randall, as if secretly wishing him luck in the least.

"Two... One."

The siren blasted. All the monsters proceeded to their assigned doors that awaited children to entertain.

Randall scurried through the door faster than a second and immediately, Vanessa had to look at her monitor to check out what her partner's doing on the other end.

"Okay, Randall," she said. "What is your tactic?"

"I don't know." Randall whispered in a troubled fashion. "Let me think of something."

Vanessa looked around the floor on the other and noticed that most of the monsters were already installing a new canister. "Oh, shoot." she muttered to herself and told Randall, "Then think faster!"

Before Randall could think of anything, Vanessa's loud voice in the earpiece made him jump and slip under a bunch of marbles scattered around the room's floor. A light turned on and he heard the would of sheets rustling before he looked up to see a child of fair skin look down on him. It was a boy with blue racecar pajamas, looking curious over him with bright blue eyes.

When Randall tried to get up, he slipped again and had another nasty fall. But after the impact, he heard the sound of a giggle. Then true laughter.

"Great. He laughs at my pain." Randall muttered under his breath.

"He's not the only one." he heard Vanessa giggle in his earpiece.

"You shut up." he said. "How much of the canister is filled?"

"Just half. You have to come up with something better than beginner's luck to hit this."

"I will after I get up."

Vanessa thought in the other end, then came up with an idea.

"Hey, you can blend in, like, become almost invisible, right?"

"Yeah, get on with it."

There was silence for a moment before his partner said, "Does this kid have any stuffed animals around?"

Randall looked around the floor and spotted a little dinosaur stuffed animal. "Yeah, I see one."

"Become invisible and—I don't know. Just do something with it."

"Okay?" the lizard said sarcastically. He blended in with the floor, struggled a bit with the marbles on the floor, and after he was free from them, he picked up the dinosaur and sighed. "He goes."

He raised the animal next to the child's bed, as if it came to life where the boy sat, and made bobbing motions to make it seem like it was walking to and fro. The kid giggled and stretched out his little hand to try to grab the toy.

"Don't let him have it yet. Play a little with him." Vanessa commanded.

Listening to her advice, he quickly swiped the toy away from the boy's approaching hand and he scurried to the other side of the bed, trying to tell the kid to try to catch it. The boy laughed and pounced, only to have Randall scurry again to the foot of the bed and gave the dinosaur a little shake. This went on for five minutes until the boy finally caught the toy and hugged it in his tiny arms.

"Is that enough?" Randall whispered.

"We actually need a little bit left." she said.

"What the heck?"

"I have no bright ideas now."

"Well, that's great." Randall mumbled as he started to walk, still invisible, to the door to leave until he once again slipped onto the marbles again, rendering him visible in surprise and thus making the child laugh again before Randall emerged back into the Monster World on the floor.

"Good news and bad news." Vanessa said. "Good news is that we finished one canister."

"And the bad?" Randall asked in a groaning fashion.

"It was the only one we've done." she said with displeasure.

Randall looked around and saw that everyone was leaving the Laugh Floor already. And they had five to ten canisters done each. And he had one.

"Well, look who's had a great first day, Lizard Boy." a voice said behind Randall.

"Wazowski." the monster hissed as he turned around. "Long time, no see."

"Finished one, Randall? I thought you were TOP scarer. Oh, right, that was when you were a SCARER. Being a Laugher is not as easy as it looks, does it, Boggs?" Mike gloated.

"I never said it wasn't." Randall said sternly, trying to compose himself again so he wouldn't do anything stupid.

"Hey, hey, settle down, guys." Sulley said as he came over. "Mike, remember what I told you. Don't be rude."

"I still can't believe it, Sulley," Mike retorted. "You want me to act nice to the monster who almost KILLED us? I might say that you are insane. I mean, just look at that scar. Spells killer all over him."

That set it off. In less than a second, Randall pinned down Mike on the desk nearest to them and yelled, "You little one eyed IDIOT! I got this scar from a freakin SHOVEL in that bayou! Just like everything else I got from it! You don't know anything like the pain I suffered!"

"Randall, stop!" Sulley cried as he grabbed onto the lizard to pull him off. Vanessa joined in to add the effort and when she held and pulled onto him, she felt his heart beat frighteningly fast. For a second, she was so afraid of Randall that she would just let go of him and run away as fast as possible. But she still pulled with Sulley, thinking that she would be somehow less afraid if she fought it. If she fought him. If she were to fight everything.

Then he let go. Once let loose Mike, he shook himself out of Sulley and Vanessa's grasp and gave himself space. He gave out loud, long sighs and felt his head throbbing again. He held onto his fronds, begging his head to calm down.

He sunk his head and said quietly, "I'm sorry. It's just that... That eyeball started it."

"But you went as low as he went." Vanessa said.

"Hey," Mike pouted. "I still don't understand why Sulley would let Ran—" Sulley shushed his friend by placing his huge hand over Mike's jabbering mouth.

"Maybe Mikey still needs time to make sense of it." Sulley said, picking up his friend effortlessly. "Well, have a nice day, Randall."

"Yeah," the calmed lizard said. He stood silent before he turned to see Vanessa leaning her back over her desk, her eyes on the ground.

"I'm still trying to make sense of it." she said softly, shaking her head. "This job'll be tough."

"You don't want to be around me, you can go." Randall said calmly, but with a hint of displeasure. "I don't need you."

"Thanks. I was waiting for that." she said before she started walking to leave.

He didn't want to look back, but he did anyway and saw the way the young loch ness walked away. She stared at the floor in a sad manner, her steps quick and eager to be away from here. From him, he guessed.

He pitied her. But he remembered the rejection she gave him. In a way, it was like she spat at him after he tried to be acquainted with her. She deserves it. Let her be alone. Why do I care? he thought. I don't need her. I don't need anyone.


	4. Chapter 3

Winds of Change-A Monsters, Inc. Fanfic

Chapter 3

What a horrible day, Vanessa thought as she's sat on her couch to rest a bit before her next job. First, she got paired with a used-to-be criminal and now she got a notice on her apartment that she has to pay for her rent very soon or else she would be evicted. Is there possibly anything else to make the day worse?

She brought her hand to her forehead to try to ease her consciousness, closing her eyes to clear the worry, which she knew would come back anyway to haunt her later. She peered over to her small table next to her and saw a picture frame. She picked it up and stared at it in front of her.

It was of her and her parents. She missed them dearly. Her father was a reptilian monster and her mother was Nessie herself. She mostly had her mother's porpoise features and her personality, but she loved both her parents all the same. But they disappeared when she was very young. Her mother was first.

There was word that she was banished, but she always wonder for what reason and who was responsible for it. She remember the years after when she was with her father, or at least, she lived with him. He was mostly away after her mother mysteriously disappeared until one day he didn't come back home at all. Then she learned that he was killed. The police couldn't identify who, but Vanessa knew it had to do with her mother's disappearance. It had to be.

But ever since, she had to rely on herself to get by. But it was very tough for her. She had many jobs before, desperate for anything to avoid homelessness. She was hired and she would soon be fired. It was too overwhelming for her.

Going to Monsters, Inc. was her last choice to be, for it was very corprorate, so high up in business. She figured she would be fired the second she would be hired in such a top-notch place. Besides, she couldn't be as much of a Scarer like her mother. She personally didn't like scaring people, let alone children. She was never against what her mother did. She knew she did it for the good of the public, and she really was sweet with monster children. She also heard her once talk about how unfair it was that they had to scare human children while the monster children have nothing to fear in the Monster World. She expressed how she wished that someday, probably those children would be able to feel safe with monsters. That they were people like them.

Vanessa remembered vividly her mother's voice those times. Thinking about it now, she figured that Sulley made her mother' dream come true. Making children happy and safe. Never to worry about what comes into the night.

She thought that she would try to make this job really count. She knew her mother used to work there, and so she will take her place in the company like her mother dreamed it would be.

The only downside was obviously her partner, Randall Boggs. She frowned when she pictured him in her mind. When she pictured that murderous-looking scar on his left eye. She quivered a bit thinking about it.

She still couldn't understand why Sulley would let Randall come back to the company. After all he did to him and his friend Mike. After all, he did hear a personal testimony from Mike himself. Taking children away to collect their screams from an extractor. It sounded so terrible, she couldn't bear to picture it. Perhaps Sulley was being too forgiving.

She remembered when she used to be so naive and so trusting. It left her to fend for herself. She used to have so-called friends, but when she asked for help, they turned away. There was not one "friend" who felt sympathy for her loss or her need to thrive.

She knew what Randall was doing when he tried to engage in small talk with her. He was trying to take advantage of her. With the look of a predator, she had to keep away from him. She didn't want to be too trusting anymore. She didn't care if he says that he's willing to change himself. Any guy could say that. It meant nothing. She meant nothing to him. All the more reason to avoid him. She has no purpose to be around him but working, but there's nothing beyond that. Nothing at all. She also didn't care if he would be cold to her from now on. He could flirt with her all he wants if he wanted to. She just wouldn't associate with him at all. Her concern now is to keep herself up and try to keep her property.

She placed the picture frame back onto the small table beside her and gathered her pencils into her bag and left out the door.

A month passed and it wasn't the best for both Randall and his assistant. The did minimal progress after their first try on making kids laugh, often filling two canisters a day, three if they were lucky. But most of the time, Randall re-used his material to the point that Vanessa told Randall that it died out, but he ignored her advice ignorantly. By close to the end of the month, they were back to finishing two canisters a day because of those died-out acts. They were so dry that Vanessa would give up looking at the screen and would instead spend her time having her palm over her face at Randall's poor acts that had to be "funny".

She also had to put up with more of his attitude which she knew he saved up just for her to suffer. She told herself to ignore him as much as possible, but it soon became a pet peeve to her and became that start of never ending arguments between them.

Randall didn't take it any nicer either. He hated the way the loch ness gave sappy remarks at him whenever he insults her. Heck, she was almost as sarcastic as he was when she wanted to, and he guessed she only did it it to him.

He thought about it after he woke up early in his bed this morning, not able to sleep a bit more. Most of the time, he was unsure who won what argument. There were so many arguments that he couldn't remember what they were for and when they had them.

For the first time, he admitted that he probably regretted coming back. Vanessa was obviously his main reason, for sure.

He also didn't make much of an effort changing himself around others. Besides not talking to anyone else at all, there wasn't any progress made. He put all his stress, all his anger at himself and all his pressure out on Vanessa. Like he kept repeating to himself in his mind she deserves all of it. Those sappy remarks, those loathing glares, the way she argued. He could clearly hear her voice as if she were in his room. He covered his face with a pillow to block it out.

But he could never block her out. She is his permanent assistant, and he had to go through with it until she were to quit.

But she never did. Had it been anyone else, they would've quit weeks ago. But somehow, she was able to stay and deal with his attitude. He didn't know why. Something told him that she would have quit, but there's something that's making her stay on her own will. She will never leave.

He groaned into his pillow in an agonizing fashion. The he sighed.

"Might as well get up, Boggs. This is forever now." Randall said to himself before he got up to get ready.

Vanessa got up early, the sun shining down on her. Making her feel supremely warm and comfortable, almost regretting to get up and wanted to sleep more, wanting the sun to embrace her more.

She knew that her happiness would be temporary; she recently sent in her payment for the rent right after she recieved her pay from MI and her second job at a nearby cafe, where she works as an artist to attract in customers with her art on the walls and she would also get requests from incoming customers to draw them as well, which is also what she is paid for. Luckily for her, her employer was friends with her mother way back, so she could say that her second job would bring a smile to her after a terrible day at MI.

But she was thankful enough to know that she was guaranteed to stay another month in her apartment.

But she frowned when she realized another morning means another whole day with Randall Boggs. She fell backwards on her back on the bed and groaned. "Why?"

Vanessa was preparing Randall's first canister for the day when he heard him approach her and she looked up.

"What?"

"Hurry up. It's gonna start very soon."

"We have five minutes, dude."

"Dude?" Randall repeated in a disgusted way.

"Yeah, what's wrong with it?" Vanessa said, enjoying this game of irritating the lizard. "You're not down with my talk?"

Damn, she is annoying. he thought. "No. I'd prefer you not talking at all."

"I'm sorry, that's not possible." she said with a smile.

Randall narrowed his eyes at her. "Just hurry up."

"I am. Don't get your tail in a twist."

"I'll get your tail in a twist."

"What was that?"

"Nothing." Randall said as he began to sit down at Vanessa's desk. While she was fixing up the canister, Randall was looking at the desk, bored and eager to leave already. He saw that Vanessa left her bag with the corner of a frame sticking out onto the desk. She never brought a bag with her before.

He looked at Vanessa, now occupied with preparing the canister and the door. He figured he could sneak a peek at what she had. He slipped the frame out silently, thanking the noise of monsters having sports balls, sirens and horns around him covering his act. What he saw surprised him.

It was Vanessa, but so much younger. And she had black hair. He knew that she dyed her hair. But the smaller loch ness in the photo was with her mother, Nessie, and her father. The daughter was smiling brightly and her eyes shone lovingly with her parents. For a moment, he envied Vanessa for this photo. He wished he had parents as long as she had while he lost his mother long before hers and lacking a father at all.

"What are you doing?" Randall heard a female voice say. He looked up and saw her in front of him. She had a look of worry and anger. "Give that back."

"What? What do you have to hide here?"

"Boggs, please, just give it back."

"She is why you came, is it?"

Vanessa stopped and her eyes dilated in a pleading fashion. She hesitated for a while before she said, "It's none of your business."

"It's a simple answer."

"I told you, it's none of your business." she furrowed her brows together in annoyance.

"See, that's what doesn't make sense about you." Randall said seriously. "That seems to be your one and only excuse of keep something from me."

"Because I don't feel like I should share anything with you. It wouldn't be of any worth, anyway." she said uneasily.

"Why do you assume that?"

"Because..." she said, then remained silent.

"Because what?"

"Why the heck do you care?!"

Randall stopped and asked himself the same thing, until he came up softly with, "Because maybe we have the same problem."

At that, Vanessa let out a sad chuckle. "No... No, there's no way. I didn't kidnap a kid. We don't have the same problem."

"Will you STOP accusing me of something I did a long time ago?!" Randall snapped. "That has passed! I don't want to be that person anymore!"

"You seem to behave the same!"

"Because you deserve it!" Randall yelled in her face. "Everyone deserves it! What the hell is wrong with this damn world rejecting those who want to be like the rest?!"

The loch ness was backed up against the door she installed behind her, feeling scared and cornered by this menacing beast yelling at her for real. The scolding she had earned from him before this was nothing compared to how he was now. Her pupils shrunk frighteningly, wanting to escape desperately.

"I came back to straighten my life out and become normal like everyone else! But everyone still thinks I'm the same hateful and tight-ass lizard I was!"

"Because you still are!" she yelled back. "You think you're better than you were before? I don't see a difference! You almost assaulted Sulley's friend on our first day!"

"That's because—"

"No! There's no excuse!" she retorted. "There's NO excuse at all! You're still the same!"

"Well what am I supposed to do, huh?" Randall argued. He saw her eyes narrow to catlike slits and she was about to say something before he interrupted her chance. "What can I do to make you feel comfortable around me? To make you feel like you're not around a cold snake? What?"

She covered her face with her scarlet bangs as she sunk her head low, trying to block out his loud demanding voice. After half a minute passed, she said weakly, "Just give it back."

"Look at you." he hissed quietly. "You're so very insecure. So secretive and withdrawn. I can see that you rely too much on yourself... I used to be like that. I used to work endless and stressful hours on something that led to my own downfall. But you... You insist on being alone; completely alone. You shut yourself out completely."

She still remained silent at his words, as if she surrendered to him. She still listened anyway while staring at her frame in one of Randall's four arms.

"I pity you." he said in a straight-out manner. "You should feel sorry for yourself." he heard Vanessa express a shy and quiet sigh, as if afraid that he would scold her again if she were to let out a normal sigh. He held up the frame to her and her eyes wandered again up to the lizard's scar. "I just wonder what they; what she would think."

"Don't... You..." Randall heard Vanessa's voice escalate along with her right foot rising, her claws retracting slowly. The black-stained foot stepped on Randall's foot without warning, and he let out a curse when she finished, "... DARE talk about my mother!"

At the pain, Randall lost grip on the frame and when it fell, the glass shattered to pieces. At the impact, Vanessa gasped. While Randall held onto his injured foot, he turned his head to see her very expressive eyes glitter, welling up tears. She kneeled next to the shattered glass and quickly took the photo away from the shards.

When Randall saw the first tear flow down the girl's face, he felt his heart shatter in guilt. Perhaps he had taken everything too far. If he just didn't get all up in her face, none of this would've happened. He became so paranoid with all the stress he endured in wanting to change his old ways, but he never even progressed to. He did save all his self-anger for her presence. He should've known that if what she had was so personal, he should have left her alone. He has no idea what she's going through and it was a huge mistake to try to force it out of her. It was as if he were desperate to hear about someone worse off than he was. If Vanessa wasn't, she is now. He could see how miserable she looks now kneeling at her photo of people she loved and lost, her tears falling onto it.

"No..." he muttered. "I don't—I'm sorry, I—"

"I DON'T CARE!" she cried. "You know what? I got used to dealing with your stupid attitude the past few weeks, but this time, you've gone too far! You don't butt into people's lives and force their pasts out of them! Especially not someone like me!" Her breath caught, but she continued, "I'm sorry, but I'm not ready to trust anyone yet! And if you wanted to earn my trust, you clearly failed! If you were to give me a bit of space, maybe I would have warmed up to you on my own, but now..." she stopped, her tears returning again heavily. "From now on, I don't want you to try to 'warm up to me' ever again!"

At that, she got up with her photo, still in tears, then ran and left the Laugh Floor. Most likely to home.

Randall took notice of the awkward silence surrounding him. He turned his head and saw everyone in the Floor staring at him, none all too friendly at all.

Probably Vanessa didn't deserve what she had received from him so far. All along, he deserved this. He knew it. He is the same jerk he was before. His head throbbed again before he left.


	5. Chapter 4

Winds of Change-A Monsters, Inc. fanfic

Chapter 4

It was Saturday, the day after Randall's huge argument with Vanessa and he never felt so bad in his entire life. He destroyed her heart in the sickest way possible, and he felt there was no way he could redeem himself for it. It wasn't like the mistake he made before. What he did was personal, and he truly regretted it more than anything.

Randall sat on his small table in his apartment, drinking out of his third cup of coffee. He was aching all over from a sleepless night, thinking about what Vanessa was doing at the moment. She was probably clinging to her photo now, emotionally broken, depressed and heart shattered to millions of shards like the glass of her frame the day before. She was probably thinking about how much she hated him now.

"I am such an idiot..." he mumbled to himself, carefully caressing his scar below his eye, now throbbing a bit.

He needed advice. He just couldn't let what happened pass like nothing. He had to try to apologize to her. Of course, he wouldn't try to force her again for her forgiveness. If she wouldn't forgive him, he wouldn't blame her. He doesn't deserve her forgiveness. But he at least wanted to let her know how miserable he feels for what he had done. He had to. But he needed advice how to approach her in such a way to not screw up on it.

He needed it from someone he knew was good with people.

"Yeah, I heard about your... Incident." Sulley said, sitting next to Randall on his huge couch. Randall sat on Mike's. Luckily for him, the eyeball was out with Celia at the moment. He needed this one-on-one talk with Sulley more than ever. Never in his life did he picture himself getting advice from his biggest rival. Of course, it wasn't like for a while, but it was very different.

Randall told everything to him from the start of his misunderstanding with Vanessa up to the argument they last had. Apparently, word got all over the company, unfortunately for him.

"Yes," Randall said sadly. "It was until I dropped her frame of her family that... I believe officially set everything off."

"So, so far, you haven't been giving Vanessa what she wanted. She wanted to be alone and you broke that by—"

"Being a dumbass..."

"Hey, you did mess up, but don't start calling yourself names."

"Still, Sullivan, I just... Can't believe I treated her the way I did. I was being stupid, cruel and, dare I say, mean," Randall rambled. "Just like I was before..."

Sulley looked at him with sad eyes and he nudged his shoulder with his massive fist gently. "Don't beat yourself up, Ran. We do stupid things. We all make mistakes."

"But I want to stop that, or, at least make less. I've had so many mistakes in life." Randall said, his emerald-green eyes staring at the ground.

"Then remember your goal when you came here. Try to refresh and take another start. Besides, I can see one huge thing that changed about you."

Randall looked up, wondering what it was.

"You have sympathy." Sulley said with a smile.

Randall expressed a sad smile, a bit relieved to know that he slightly became better. "But what about Vanessa?" the lizard asked in a pleading fashion. "What will I say to her? I just want to let her know how sorry I am."

Sulley thought, lying back in his seat and looking to the distance. "To be honest, I'm not too sure about women. But I know they take things differently and seriously." he thought for a few more seconds until he said, "Well, I'm general, I only think that the best you can do is to go up to her and tell her straight out that you feel guilty for what you did and leave her to think about it. You would be able to express how you feel, at least."

Randall nodded while listening and replied, "Yeah... I'll try. And if she doesn't forgive me... I wouldn't blame her at all. I know I wouldn't."

"Just hope, Randall." Sulley said. "Look, there are times when you do good and it kind of... Backfires at you. But that's life. If she's not willing to forgive you now, give her some time and space."

Randall thanked him for his time helping him out, even if he did get the obvious advice possible. It was then that he realized that Sulley was probably his first friend in along time. He really underestimated him for so long.

Sulley walked Randall to the door to say goodbye before Randall stopped him before he closed the door. "Do you by any chance know her address?"

Vanessa sat by the window, looking out to the late morning sun shining down at the neighborhood and small businesses, people greeting each other kindly. She wished her feelings could depict something like this, but her emotions made it seem like rain pouring down a blue-grey blanketed sky.

She didn't know how to feel. All she knew was that she felt lonelier and she didn't want to go outside at all. She put her family photo in a frame that was bigger than the photo itself, but it was all she had.

The night before she thought about everything Randall had said to her. She thought about it all in full detail, wondering if they were true. Lying in her bed that night, she figured that most of what he said was true. There was no doubt about it. But it earned her a sleepless night tearing up in her pillow knowing the truth.

She couldn't believe that almost everything Randall said was true, as if he looked deep into her soul to find the answer. He even made her own arguments seem worthless. She remember the last thing she told him, "If you were to give me a bit of space, maybe I would have warmed up to you on my own...". Had she meant that? She wasn't so sure. She figured that she would act like the same secluded girls she always was after her mother's disappearance. She blamed everything on her being gone. She should have moved on a long time ago. But she can't. She just can't. It worried her, pained her to imagine what would've happened to her mother. If she were hunted down by frightened humans or starving or if she were dead already.

Even not she regretted worrying about it, which was her problem in the first place. She had to let it loose. At least let go most of her stress, but not so much to forget her. She doesn't want to forget her. Someday, she wants to find out what exactly happened. Maybe she could consult Sulley about it sometime later, but now, she had to clean herself up for the better. But how?

She thought the only way was to somehow make amends with her partner. She remembered that his words hurt so much yesterday, but—but what?

She heard a knock just then. She walked over to the door to look through the peep hole and he breath caught who was in the other side. It was Randall Boggs himself.

Randall hoped that he got the right address as he waited in front of the door. He the. Noticed the peep hole on the door and thought that Vanessa knew that he was there. If she did, he wondered if she would open the door or pretend to be not home and not respond. But he gave a flinch when he heard the knob turn slowly and the door opening with a lingering creak.

He saw her then. Vanessa's red dyed hair was tousled lazily. Her eyes had small bags under them, but her eyes were still expressive as ever. Her pupils were dilated and glassy. He knew then that she had a rough night as well. She looked up at him and raised a nervous hand to scratch her head. It was hard for her to avoid his gaze when she said, "Hello, Boggs."

Randall sighed and began, "Listen... What I said yesterday—what I have been doing to you the past weeks... I'm sorry for it."

"Rand—"

"Please," he interrupted. "Just hear me out." He saw her nod. "I was thinking about what you said... About me being the same guy I was before. You're right. I hardly made any... Any bit of change. Instead I made it worse for myself to put all my anger I had for myself on you. And you had a right to keep your personal problems to yourself. It was wrong and stupid for me to try to force it out of you. I don't know, my only explanation for that was to hear if someone were living worse than I was. But I see now that... That was sadistic. I don't want to be like that anymore. And I do mean it. I know that you think anyone could say that... But this time I'll make it happen. But my point is that I just want you to know how... How sorry I am for hurting you the way I did. It was a huge mistake, especially since my purpose here was to become better. I guess I broke my own goal. But now, I want to go with it again. You don't have to trust me on that. You don't have to forgive me. I wouldn't if it were me being hurt, knowing how selfish and cold I can be... But I just came to tell you, again, that I am sorry. Also for talking about your mother, Nessie."

Vanessa stared at him with her solemn eyes when he said all that and sighed when he finished. She took note that so far, he said sorry three times, and he said it so heartfelt. She could tell by the way he spoke seriously and the nervous way he said it.

"Okay," she said.

That was it. Randall already did what he came to do. He sighed disappointedly, as if he knew this would happen and gave her a sad smile before he said to her, "Well, I guess I'll go then."

He tried. He came all the way there and apologized and it was done. He started walking down the hallway before he heard a voice behind him.

"Randall, wait." Vanessa called to him. Randall stopped, turned his head and saw her needy expression. He noticed her hand lifted towards him, as if wanting to grab him before he got away even though he was a few yards away from her. She cleared her throat and said, "Come in."

Randall walked back, feeling relief that they could now work something out. He didn't hesitate to scurry back to her door and she led him inside.

When Randall looked around her apartment, he noticed how simple and boring her it looked. All there was in there was a table with a chair, a couch and a bed in the corner. It was a single-room apartment, and a very drab one.

"I know. It's ugly, is it?" she asked.

"No," Randall said. "It's just... Eh, dead."

"So dead isn't ugly?" she said as she walked over to her kitchen cabinet to grab a mug and asked, "I just made some coffee. Would you care for some?"

Randall already had four cups earlier that morning, but he felt he could use just one more. "Sure, thanks."

She took two mugs and set Randall's on the small table next to her couch. She held hers as she fetched the chair close to the couch.

"Please sit." she murmured. Randall obeyed. Vanessa took the chair first, telling Randall that he could use the couch since he was the guest. He made himself comfortable on the cushiony couch and took a sip of his coffee, savoring it.

"It's my turn, so hear me out. You'll actually be the first person for me to say this to." Vanessa said, her eyes down to her mug.

"Vanessa, you don't have to tell me," Randall reassured.

She raised her hand. "No... I have to. At least to someone who I can see has a bit of sympathy after all. Thank you for apologizing. It means so much." she said. "As you can see, I don't have the most luxurious life at the moment. It's because after my mother was banished, I was left with my father to live. But without my mother bringing in the dough, we didn't have enough money for our old house. So we came here instead. I was a teenager then.

"But my father, he wanted to know answers. Badly. Each night, he went out without telling me what for. But I knew he went out those nights to find out what happened to her and why it happened to her of all people. But... Then one morning, I got news that he was murdered, and the murderer is still unknown to this day. I was left alone then at a young age.

"Without my parents, I couldn't go to the art school I always wanted to go. I had to fend for myself then. And I got so sucked up into work to the point that I was reliant on myself. No one helped me, not even my backstabbing so-called 'friends'. I guess they didn't want to be friends with a poor orphan anymore.

"Anyway, because of that, I didn't trust anyone. I couldn't trust anyone."

"So you didn't have anyone to help you because of that mistrust, did you?" Randall said as he took another sip of his coffee. "And that put everything on you."

"Exactly. Sure, I made a few new friends here and there, but I never told anyone what I just told you. I just thought they wouldn't care. Like I said, I was too reliant on myself that it just drove me crazy mad. There wasn't a day that I wasn't worried. I have to pay my rent each month with the little income I have, hardly anything for myself, as you can see. And it made me very unsocial, too. I shut myself out from everyone, like as if I only went out to work and come back home to lie in the corner with the lights turned off all alone.

"I was always alone since then... But I still think about my mother. Usually, my uneasiness and nervous nature was from her being gone. Never knowing what happened to her. Have you felt that?"

"I can't say I have." Randall admitted. "I only knew my mother in my short childhood. My father I never knew in my life, so I never associated with him whatsoever, so that doesn't count either. Still, I can't imagine what you're going through, knowing your mother was taken away without an explanation, and, repeating what you said, 'never knowing what happened to her'."

"Yeah," Vanessa said before she sipped on her coffee. "It still haunts me now. I don't want it to take over me for the rest of my life, but I also don't want to forget her. That's why I took the job at the factory. I'm doing it for her. Especially since she always hoped that the factory would use a happier alternative for those children. I mean, she was the closest person, along with my father, that I know. I mean, that photo said it all."

Randall looked at the re-framed photo next to him. He nodded. "You looked very happy."

"Yeah, that was how it was before," Vanessa sighed. "Happy."

"You were a cute kid." Randall said.

She smiled. It was probably her first true smile Randall saw. She chuckled, "Thanks. I guess I was."

"Vanessa, I appreciate you telling me this." Randall said softly.

"It's no trouble." she replied. "I wish I'd known that before." Then she looked him in the eyes and said, "Randall, I'm sorry for shutting you out. I know that we're partners, and for all I know, all the other employees are basically friends with their partners. Where would we be if we continued to be cold to each other?"

"Worse than yesterday," Randall answered.

"I just wanted it to stop. And before you came, I thought about it; that we have to try to cooperate with each other. We were just destroying each other and it wouldn't end at all too good. We have to act mature and... Treat each other better."

"I agree. And I forgive you. Of course, if you forgive me." Randall chucked.

She laughed. "I forgive you. You do seem to show a lot coming here." Then she sighed with a half-smile, "I'm very glad that this is over."

"Same here." the lizard said. "So... Start all over?"

"Sure," Vanessa smiled, her eyes glittering as she lifted an open arm in front of Randall. "Hi, my name is Vanessa Jazmine Loch, but you can call me Vanessie."

Randall's hopes returned again. She was allowing him to call her by her nickname. He sent his trademark grin as he returned the handshake and said, "Randall Boggs. Call me anything you want except Lizard Boy."

"Alright." Vanessie giggled. "May I call you Randy?"

Randall shrugged. "If you want. Sounds appropriate to me."

The two talked on in the apartment and began to warm up to each other, both relieved that their nasty war against each other was over. It was a new beginning for the, both. After Randall arrived back home, he realized he couldn't wait for them to go back to work.

It was cold and dark in his cell. It smelled like dead, rotting rats and even more dead rats on top coated with sewage.

He wanted to get the hell out of there. He didn't belong there. He came from a high-class wealthy family, and instead of him holding the reins of the company, that James P. Sullivan took it away from him and made it into a laugh factory. Damn that Sullivan. He never thought that he would be succeeded by him.

But it wasn't all Sullivan he loathed against. He also detested Randall, thinking the blame befell on him. If it weren't for Randall to screw everything up and letting Sullivan and that Wazowski guy get away, he could have easily kept going with scream as energy, using that Scream Extractor on children. He personally believed that the conversion of the company to laughter was ludicrous.

He chuckled silently to himself in his cell, his grip on the bars tightening eagerly. "I will get them eventually. When the time is right, I'll get Sullivan first. Then that Randall Boggs.


	6. Chapter 5

Winds of Change-A Monsters, Inc. fanfic

Chapter 5

"Hey, Vanessie," Randall greeted when he reached his partner's desk in the Laugh Floor.

"Oh, hey." Vanessie said, looking up at him from her paperwork, smiling. "How are you?"

He could say then that her smile made his morning, making him smile a bit, too. "I'm good actually, thanks."

"That's good." Vanessie grinned. "It's a bit early. Sit by me for a while and we'll talk tactics."

Randall set his coffee on her desk, took a chair from another desk, sat on it, and asked Vanessie, "So how was your weekend?"

"Heh," she chuckled. "Boring like every weekend. Yours?"

"Pretty relaxing. I took walks here and there," he said. He did start taking walks, wanting to maintain a healthy lifestyle along with his new determined attitude he hopes to get better. "Drank more coffee."

"I see you're very close to coffee." Vanessie grinned.

Randall glared at his cup he set down and snorted. "Can't live without it."

Vanessie laughed.

"And... I was kind of wanting to be courteous, so..." the lizard said as he lifted an arm holding another cup of coffee to his partner.

Vanessie looked away from her work and softly gasped. "Oh, my goodness, thank you. How much—"

"No, no, you don't have to pay me back." Randall smiled. "I know your situation, so don't ever think about paying me back."

"Oh, thank you very much. And great timing; I just ran out this morning."

She took the cup and took a delicate sip of it. She licked her lips before she said, "Oh, God, how did you know I love caramel?"

"I remembered the flavor of the coffee you served me last time." Randall said in a suave voice. "I guess you can say that I am an expert on coffee."

She drank more and exhaled, loving the taste of it so much. "I needed this."

"So, then you wanted to talk tactics?"

"Oh, yeah. So you got any ideas how to make kids laugh?"

Randall sat quietly, staring into space and not at Vanessie at all.

"Randy?"

"Eh?"

"Any?"

"Well... I hate kids. So... I have no idea, to be blunt." Randall said weakly. "Sorry."

"Come on, Randy. Nothing at all?" Vanessie said with a cocked eyebrow.

"It's not easy, Vanessie." Randall pouted, taking a few gulps of his coffee. "Being a Laugher is difficult, you know."

Vanessie's mouth gaped open with a scoff. "You're kidding right?"

"What?"

"You don't seriously think that making kids laugh is hard, right?"

"You don't think it is? You should try it." Randall grinned.

"I think we should take a bet."

"Eh?"

"Yeah," Vanessie said with a sly smirk. "We'll bet on whether it is easy or not."

This sounded juicy. Probably being friends with Vanessie could be interesting. "Keep talking.

"If I... Happen to fail at making our first kid laugh because it was hard, then I will act like an idiot in front of everyone here."

"You're joking."

"Oh, I'm full of surprises, Randall Boggs." Vanessie said with a smug grin.

"Okay," Randall pondered. "And if you happen to succeed and make it look easy and humiliate me," Vanessie giggled. "Then I will buy you new furniture for your place."

"No way!" she gasped, her brown eyes widened. "That's huge compared to mine!"

"Well, that's the bet."

"Okay, let's shake hands so it's official." she said.

They shook hands and awaited the Laugh Floor to be filled with more workers, both eager to start the bet. Maybe being early to work wasn't a good idea; they couldn't wait at all.

Then Sulley came into the floor with Mike, noticing Vanessie and Randall together, and smiled. He waved his arm in the air and called out, "Hey, Van and Ran!" as he walked towards them.

They looked up then with curious eyes, as if wanting to know what their boss wanted. Sulley chuckled to himself at the sight.

"What's so funny?" Mike asked.

"I see that those two made up already." Sulley smiled.

"Who?" Mike's large eye was searching for whom Sulley was talking about until he saw Randall and Vanessie looking at each other, shrugging. "You mean Mini-Loch Ness and Lizard Boy?"

"Mike, stop calling him that. It's rather offensive." Sulley said. "It's like me calling you Dodgeball, One-Eyed or One-Dimensinal."

"Oh, FINE." Mike pouted. "It's just weird seeing him now again."

"Hi, guys." Sulley greeted.

Both Vanessie and Randall said hi.

"I see you guys are getting along now.".

"Yeah," Randall said with a half-smile. "We're getting along great."

"Yeah, if only we were like this from the start." Vanessie chuckled. "But I guess we had to learn that the hard way."

"You two ready for today?" Sulley asked.

"Yeah, we are. Well, that is if Vanessie's ready." Randall said.

"Huh?"

"Yeah, Sulley. We made a bet because Randall thought that making kids laugh is hard." Vanessie explained.

Mike gasped. "Really? You think that—oh, MAN! That's rich!"

"WELL, WAZOWSKI—" Randall snapped before he felt a hand on his shoulder. He adjusted his eyes to look behind him and saw Vanessie with a reassuring and comforting face. He knew what she was saying. Handle this maturely. He nodded at her and turned back to Mike, composing himself and continued, "We have different opinions about things. And me being a rookie, it makes sense.."

Mike gave Randall an awkward look and said, "Alright." and went to his station.

"Nice job." Vanessie said. "Bueno."

"Well, good luck, you two." Sulley smiled and left to attend to his duties.

Randall turned to Vanessie and asked her with a grin, "So, you're what, Mexican?"

"Ok, just because I said one—just ONE Spanish word, you assume that I'm Mexican?" Vanessie laughed.

Randall shrugged. "Well, yeah."

"Well. Partly. I'm also half-Salvadoran."

"Isn't Nessie from Scotland? Y'know, Loch Ness?" he asked, confused.

Vanessie snorted. "That monster was an ancestor to us. I'm guessing he was a traveler and he happened to be at that lake at the time the famous photograph was taken."

"But... Neither you or your mother have long necks. How could he have—"

"He wanted to take a trip to that lake to swim around and... I think he wanted to fool around with the humans. I don't know much on him, but he basically tricked the whole human race that was like some kind of dinosaur-looking monster... Thing." she laughed again. "Of course, he came back, and soon enough, the Monster World got word that in the Human World, he was dubbed the 'Loch Ness Monster' and even the feminine 'Nessie'. Soon, that name was passed to my mother, which makes it more sense, but there were many Nessie's before her. I know, it's too much to think about, but... Y'know."

Randall's head throbbed. "Yeah, too much."

"I'm sorry. Drink more coffee. You need more, obviously." she smirked.

Randall smiled back at her as he took another sip of his coffee.

When the Laugh Floor was getting crowded with Laughers and their assistants, Vanessie asked, "We ought to get ready, huh?"

"Yeah. Get ready to see you fail." Randall climbed off his chair, chuckling.

"We'll see how much you'll regret saying that when you see me on that screen making this kid laugh his head off. Make him, as humans say nowadays, 'LMAO'."

"Uh huh, sure."

He felt a light punch on his shoulder from Vanessie then. "Ow!" He looked at Vanessie's smug face. "You're lucky you didn't make a real punch."

The monsters got into position, some of them eyeing Randall and Vanessie trading places for the day, muttering to each other if that was ok to do and asking if they werent enemies anymore.

Vanessie let out an breathy laugh at their curiosity. It was until she looked around the whole room to realize that she was the only female Laugher today. She stood up then, her chest high. This was her moment to make women tougher than the guys.

"The guys ought to make it easy for this chick." Randall said, noticing her stance.

"Heck, no. This chick can do this." Vanessie replied.

"We are on in seven... Six..." the countdown went on. Randall got his earpiece on and gave Vanessie hers as the seconds passed by. He gave her a light punch good luck and went back to the assistant's desk, looking into the kid's room. From the looks of the pink walls, it was a girl that Vanessie has to make laugh. "Three... Two..."

The siren blasted. In less than a second, Vanessie raced to her door and paused at the foot of it, her body leaning onto the door and her flipper-ear listening to the inside.

Randall stared at her in curiosity, wondering her technique.

Vanessie knocked on her door lightly, and heard a small voice in the other side saying, "Who's there...?" It was her cue to open the door. She grabbed the knob, turned it and slightly opened it enough to pop her head into it.

When she slipped her head inside, she said in a silly voice, "Whooooooooooop... Boop." Randall chuckled outside. She saw the little girl on her bed, covering her whole body with her blanket with the exception of her head, scared of her stranger. "Hey, what are you doing staying up this late? Shouldn't you be sleeping now?"

The girl lowered her blanket slowly and pondered. "But I'm scared."

"Of what?" Vanessie walked into the room. "Of me, probably, right?"

The girl nodded slowly.

"Oh, sweetie, you don't have to be afraid of me." she walked slowly over to the little girl. "Okay, look, would you be scared of something that is fuzzy? Here, pet me."

Randall heard the way Vanessie said that to the girl. It sounded so comforting, so maternal, so sweet and reassuring in his earpiece. He also looked how inviting she looked when she bent over to let the girl reach her fur as he stared at the monitor. She had a smile on her that told the girl that was she was safe and she was there to make her happy.

The girl noticed her visitor's head bent over to her and touched her soft red hair. She looked over the monster's head and saw the red mane flow down to her tail. Then she started to smile and petted her hair comfortably. "It feels like a kitten."

"Mrrooooow," Vanessie mewed, sounding exactly like a kitten. "Meow."

The girl giggled. Randall saw the way Vanessie moved, cuddling the girl like a cat would and acted like a huge kitten for the girl. Then the girl started to laugh and petted Vanessie's head more to feel the soft, furry head.

Randall got up on impulse and ran over to the canister next to the door and noticed it started to rise a quarter of the meter. "Vanesse, you're working with finesse." he said.

Vanessie then returned to her normal self and asked the girl in a serene voice, "See? Are you scared of me?"

"No," the little girl smiled with a little giggle. "You're like a cat."

Vanessie laughed. For some reason, Randall savored the way his assistant laughed. It was like a light, taking away any darkness and make those who hear her voice look to that light. "What's your name?"

"It's Alani." the girl said.

"Oh, what a pretty name you have." Vanessie said, beaming. "And how old are you?"

"Five."

"Oh, you're such a big girl!" the young monster said, her eyes glittering. "And look at you! So brave with a monster like me, too."

"You don't seem like a monster," Alani said.

"Why's that?"

"Monsters are scary. You're not scary." the child said in a shy and minuscule voice. "You're like a friend."

Randall felt a bit of a flush when he saw Vanessie's expression on the monitor. He remembered back when he broke her heart, the way her eyes glossed with tears. Her eyes were glossy now, but with happiness. Her mouth curved into the most tender smile he ever saw on anyone; a smile that could warm anyones heart. Randall knew that her heart was broken now with blessedness.

Vanessie sniffed, Randall could hear, and looked at the little girl with those deep chocolate pools that were her eyes, batting her lashes to keep the tears in. It was then Randall recalled Vanessie talking about her mother's dream of making children happy instead of scaring them like they used to. Like Randall used to fill his enjoyment with. He knew why Vanessie was so emotional right now. She got a chance to live what her mother always wanted, as if doing it in her place, and he knew that she cherished it. He thought that if her mother were here, she would be very proud.

He also thought how wrong it was before; scaring children, never knowing at all if he ever traumatized the children he scared. If he were in their nightmares in something as innocent as childhood. Making them think of them as ferocious predators who have not a conscience with children at all. He then felt terrible, thinking about how much he felt being hated by those kids for his menacing character, eager to scare them to the best he could.

But seeing Vanessie now, making the little girl laugh so she wouldn't be embarrassed for her emotional but happy tears, and looking at the canister meter going up more, he felt a bit more confident of what this all meant. It was a brand-new thing he felt.

He wanted to be like Vanessie then. He wanted to feel loved by those children, assuring them now that he means no harm at all. He wanted them to feel safe with him, even though he looks like a menacing reptile. He wanted them to see that not all things are not what they appear to be. He wanted to earn their trust and to feel the same thing Vanessie felt, being treated like a person; not a monster.

He sniffed, feeling his eyes growing a bit watery, but he fought it back, wanting to keep his cool for when Vanessie comes back to this world. But he really felt good that moment. It was the moment he knew that Sulley gave him a great assistant who inspired him so much. He couldn't believe now that this bet was worth it. Even though he knew that he lost it, it was worth is to see Vanessie through that screen, seeing how fun it would be to be with those kids. He never knew it could be so enjoyable to Laughers. It didn't seem like a job anymore. To them... It was something uplifting, warm, and sweet. Things Randall never felt before until now.

He wanted to start doing what Vanessie was doing so soon. But he had another thing in mind to tell Vanessie as he saw her walk out of the door with a smile of contentment on her face. He admitted to himself that she looked beautiful, staring into her glossy eyes.

"How did I do?" Vanessie asked with a light voice.

Randall looked at her, walking over to the canister and saw that it was filled; all done. He already knew that she filled it; he just wanted an excuse to walk over to where she stood to look closely at her face. In the light, her eyes were rich chocolate, glittering with immense but quiet and nostalgic joy. "You did great." he said, nodding. "You made it look so easy."

"You lost," she said, laughing breathily. "You know that, right?"

"Oh, yeah," Randall replied with a smile. "And I'm willing to do it."

Then Vanessie's smile disappeared into an expression of disbelief, her mouth barely closed, her brow cocked upwards. Randall saw then that she thought that what they did was just a playful game, but he meant it.

"Randall," she said silently, still bewildered. "No... No, you don't have to—"

"Vanessie," Randall said. "We had a bet and we shook on it. I want to follow the rules that I committed to."

"Are you serious?"

Randall sighed, sending Vanessie the kindest smile he could come up with. "Yeah."

He was off balance when Vanessie hugged him on impulse, not knowing at all what to do at this gesture he hardly ever associated with in a long, long time. But in his mind, he kept telling himself, "Hug her back! Hug her back!". He slowly, but carefully moved his four arms and wrapped them around his assistant, his first two over her back and the second pair at her waist. As he felt her, he noticed her skin was very soft and smooth; very porpoise. He also felt her soft, red mane, knowing why the little girl loved to feel the fur. It was almost downy and felt like it was flowy and clean. Careful to not have her notice, he softly caressed the mane on her back with his thumbs, so soft that it was almost untouchable.

He was disappointed when she released herself from him. That hug seemed like forever to him when it only lasted for five seconds. He wasn't sure why at all. But he knew he was happy that he got a hug from Vanessie. Having the hug from her was the most tender gesture he had ever felt since his own mother hugged him long ago.

He composed himself so he wouldn't feel odd around Vanessie; so she wouldn't feel odd, too. But he knew he couldn't help himself express a shy smile.

"Thank you," Vanessie said, with joyful tears now released from her shining eyes. "You have no idea how much this truly means to me."

Randall wanted to hug her himself then. He wanted to tell her how much her performance with the girl meant to him; how much she inspired him in such a simple way; how glad he was now to work with such a sympathetic and sweet assistant like her. But he couldn't. He didn't know how to say it without feeling off balance like the second she hugged him. If he did, he would be too shy to say it and would screw up the moment. He wasn't ready yet. Not at all. So he kept it to himself. Maybe sometime I would tell her, he thought.

"I think I do," he replied in a neutral tone. "Don't worry. I'll be glad to help you out."

Vanessie wiped her eyes, hoping that her tear ducts were done leaking and sniffed, "Thank you so much."

"It's no problem."

When Vanessie felt that she was okay, she asked Randall if he were ready to start making the next kid laugh.

He frowned. After seeing Vanessie have such a great time with the kid, he knew for a fact that she was thinking that she would never have another opportunity like that again. That feeling she had of elation; the feeling of remembering her mother vividly in that moment with the child. He breathed in heavily and said, "You know what? How about you make the kids laugh? Just for today."

"What?"

"You obviously are attached to them. I see that. Go and knock yourself out." Randall said, half-smiling.

"But what about you?"

"I promise that I'll start tomorrow." he replied. "You go and have your fun with the kids. I'll watch you do a great job."

"Thanks, Randy," she said, beaming again, then laughed. "I'll try not to act like a crybaby again."

He wanted to tell her that he didn't mind her crying at all, but again, he didn't say so and instead said, "You're welcome."

The next few hours he spent working didn't feel like work at all to him. Just seeing Vanessie happier than the kids she made laugh made it all worthwhile. He couldn't wait until tomorrow to do it himself. Just like her.

At the end of the session, Vanessie filled up seven canisters; not the best, but she wanted to spend time with those seven children; getting to know them and assuring them that they are safe in her presence. Randall didn't mind her taking her time at all. He was only surprised that she filled so many canisters on her own.

Mike walked over to Vanessie and congratulated her for her progress. He even came over to nervously congratulate Randall for their work, even though it was all Vanessie's effort. Randall was taken aback by the eyeball's handshake, but he was glad that they, too, were slowly getting to better terms.

That evening, when everyone was leaving to get home, Vanessie got ready, her face flushed with pure joy; a feeling Randall thought she rarely felt in a long while. It was like as if she was with her mother again, he thought. He was glad that he let her do his job for the day, otherwise they wouldn't feel so special. He only wished that he could tell her how it made him feel inside.

Randall asked Vanessie if she wanted him to walk her to the front of the factory, which she undoubtedly said 'yes' to, much to his content. Even though they didn't speak to each other in the short walk, he was complacent enough to be beside her, to know that she is a real friend to him, and without a doubt he was to her. He smiled.

To him, it was sad to say goodbye to her when they reached the entrance of the factory, even though they would meet each other again the next day. When he exhaled, he saw a cloud of warm breath linger in the air and disappear.

"I have to get to my second job. Well, I'll see you tomorrow, Randy." Vanessie said, putting a gentle hand on Randall's shoulder. "Good night."

"Night, Vanessie." Randall said, calmly smiling.

After Vanessie slipped her black-gloved hand off his shoulder, she walked off with a hopeful stride on her step. He thought of himself walking beside her then, but shook it away and walked home.

For the first time ever, Vanessie realized that her job at MI was more fun and engaging than her job at the cafe; by a small bit, she supposed. She loved to draw; it was her main talent after all. It was her love of art that drove her to get into a great art school, but of course, she couldn't after her mother was gone.

But today was one of those days when she felt the most happy. She did feel like she spent a day with her mother, talking to those children like her mother did with her when she was much smaller. She felt like a part of Nessie was in her. The spark only had to come out desperately to show it. And she loved it. She didn't feel so alone.

She leaned her head against her pillow and looked at her apartment, dull and grey. Sometime soon, it wouldn't be such anymore. Randall would make ie better.

Then she thought of Randall. She remembered the kind way he spoke to her today. She also remembered the hint of shyness and tensity he had with her. But she mostly remembered his eyes. Those eyes which she at first thought were evil, dark and nasty; now she remembered them deep, vivid, rich and beautiful like precious emeralds. She trusted those eyes, knowing now that he is determined to make his life a whole lot better. And the way he smiled. While others may dislike a reptile smile, she found Randall's comforting and somehow protective.

The underestimated him before, but she was happy that she was able to see this new Randall, or maybe the Randall that was always there. Like he was trapped inside himself, struggling to come out, but other things like greed, anger and envy got in the way. Those things slowly getting aside, she saw him calmer and somewhat happier. She knew that he was working on it, but all in all, she was proud of him.

She closed her eyes then, her last thoughts of eagerness for the next day to come.


	7. Chapter 6

Winds of Change-A Monsters, Inc. fanfic

Chapter 6

"How do you feel this morning, Randy?" Vanessie greeted this morning. She was early to work again, and Randall, too, came at the same time as yesterday, just a few minutes later than her. The laugh floor occupied two other assistants as well, minding their own business.

"I feel a bit tense," Randall said honestly with a half-grin. "But I think I can do this."

"Great. I know it's early, but I wish you luck." Vanessie winked.

"Thanks. I need all the encouragement I can get."

Randall took a chair and sat next to Vanessie. He noticed when he came in that she was working on something, but looking at her now, she wasn't doing any paperwork. He loomed his head over enough to not have her notice and cocked his head to the side to get an even better look.

Vanessie was drawing something. It looked interesting, but he could not make it out.

"Enjoy what you see?" he heard Vanessie say.

Randall leaned back to his chair and asked, "How did you know I was looking."

"Us artists have an extra sense of people watching us while we work."

Randall chuckled. "So you're an artist?"

She nodded with a smirk. "I started when I was three. I've been doing it for so long."

"I bet you have. And your parents; what did they think of it?"

"They bragged about me constantly." she grinned. "They supported me their whole lives."

"I can see why." Randall said as he got a clear view of her work. She was drawing a cat. It was a bit plump, black and very fuzzy. "You like cats?"

"I want one so bad." she pouted. "I remember wanting one when I was little. I got over it until the girl Alani reminded me how much I wanted one."

"Ah," Randall said. He looked at her drawing some more, appreciating the skill. "You're really good."

"Thanks."

"Shouldn't you work somewhere else for this skill? I mean, not that I don't enjoy your company here, or..."

"I wanted to but—"

"Oh, right..." Randall said, now feeling stupid. "Sorry."

"It's alright," she said. "Anyway, as for you helping me out do you think we could plan to go somewhere this weekend?"

"Wait," Randall said with astonished eyes. "This weekend?"

"Yeah. Why, are you busy?"

"Oh, no. It just that... I hardly ever went out with anyone much." He replied. "But yeah, I could go with you this weekend."

"Great." Vanessie beamed. "Now that that's settled, all you have to be concerned with now is making kids laugh."

After being inspired by Vanessie, Randall was sure that he has a slightly better chance of making kids laugh now. He was certain of it. "Yeah, I'll do my best."

The two chatted for a while, as the early morning passed and the Laugh Floor was close to being filled with its employees. Vanessie had a music player with her hooked to a speaker while they spoke to each other, playing electronic house music: her personal favorite.

When it was five minutes before to begin, Randall began to feel uneasy. He wondered if he didn't look frightening today for the kids. He didn't want to make them feel intimidated.

"Are you okay, Randy?" Vanessie asked kindly.

"Yeah," he said. "I'm just a little anxious."

"Don't you worry, Randy. Here, think of this: kids are the easiest people you can be friends with. It's the truth. You just have to give them a good impression."

Randall touched his scar.

"Disregard the scar now, Randall. If you ignore it, they will, too. If they're curious, just say the general truth: you had an accident." Vanessie said.

Then Vanessie saw an unsure look on her partner's face looking away. She touched his shoulder. "Randy," she said softly. He faced her, looking into her truthful brown eyes. "I know you can do this. I have faith in you."

He felt a flush after she said that to him. It was so honest, so hopeful; he believed it so much. He nodded and told her with a bit of a smile, "Thanks."

"You're welcome. Now get ready. You're almost on, superstar." she told him.

As the countdown went on, both Randall and Vanessie got their earpieces on and Vanessie got her monitor ready. She looked at Randall, standing a few feet before his door. Looking at his stance, she covered the reciever and she whispered to herself, "Good luck, Randy."

After the siren blared, Randall breathed deeply, exhaled and scurried to his door, being so careful that he shut the door without a sound.

"Nice work on the entrance," Vanessie complimented. "But you now have to come up with something to approach this kid."

"I will," Randall whispered. "Trust me."

The lizard looked at the kid's bed and saw a bump on it. It was a girl who looked to be eight. She had dark hair with very light skin and had on a red onesie. Her room looked a little more like a boy's room with posters of science fiction and fantasy. He figured that this girl is a tomboy. Randall struggled to come up with something to wake her up without startling her.

"You need help?" he heard Vanessie on the receiver.

"Yeah, desperately."

He heard her laugh on the other end. "Don't worry. Seeing the room you're in, you haven't noticed this kid's drawings of mythical creatures taped to the walls."

Randall looked up to the walls and did happen to see doodles of mythical creatures. They were drawn by colored pencils and they were barely recognized to be a creature at all. Randall guessed on most of them.

"How does this help me?" he asked in a hushed tone.

"Just look at most of those drawings," Vanessie said. Randall looked again. "What do they all have in common?"

He looked at them hard and saw the scribble scrabble of them, all multicolored and indistinguishable to his eye. "I'm sorry, I don't get it."

"Dude," Vanessie scoffed. "The huge wings? The long necks? The boldness in those drawings?"

Randall gave up thinking and waited for Vanessie to answer. Then he heard a long sigh.

"Really, Randy?" Vanessie said in the other end, blowing her crimson bangs off her eyes in disbelief. "This girl loves dragons to death."

"Oh, I knew that." Randall said sarcastically.

"You should have. I was thinking it would be straight out for you." she chuckled.

"I'm sorry, Vanessie, but I don't have the analytical skills that you have."

"This is getting off-topic. You have to make this kid laugh, pronto."

"Okay, but—"

"RANDALL FREEZE." Vanessie said in an alarmed voice. Randall did as commanded and at once saw his own shadow in front of him and a circle of light surrounding the shadow. He then heard a quiet gasp.

"Whooooa..." Randall heard a voice say in the room.

"The girl kind of woke up at your rambling..." Vanessie said in the earpiece.

"Oh, really? I didn't notice." Randall whispered.

"Just remember, Randy, give her a good impression. You're already doing a lot just being a huge reptile." she told him. "Now turn around and face her."

He turned his head and the only thing he saw was the bright flashlight pointing at him. He lifted his arm over his face to shield himself. He couldn't see the little girl at all. He crouched a bit to see if he could get a better look at her, but it didn't do any help.

Until he heard her say, "Where are your wings?"

Randall's breath caught. She thinks that he is a dragon. Thankfully, the girl shut off the flashlight and all Randall could see was darkness until his eyes adjusted to the darkness. The only light in the room now was the moonlight spilling through the curtains.

"Umm, I never had any?" Randall said, confused.

"Just play along. I can tell that she likes you already." Vanessie saidin the earpiece.

"Oh, you must be those wingless dragons." the girl said with a grin showing off a missing space in her front teeth, then laughed. "Wow, this is awesome."

"Right," Randall said, half-smiling. It was so odd to him, but great to see that this young girl who would normally be scared of him being a huge reptile, now so excited to see him in her presence. Then he remembered Vanessie's words, "kids are the easiest people you can be friends with".

"Do you have any special powers?" the girl asked eagerly.

"Oh, yeah." Randall heard Vanessie say. "This is your big shot. You definitely got this."

Randall chuckled at the voice in his head and smiled at the girl. "I do have something, but it's not that special."

"Do it!" the girl whispered excitedly.

In a second, Randall "disappeared" from the room and the girl gasped in amazement, frantically looking around for him, giggling. He chuckled again at her and reappeared before her eyes, his body on the wall.

"Here I am," he grinned. He slipped off the wall and stood before the girl, his skin now identical to the wall he camouflaged with.

"Wow!" the girl said happily. "You're really cool!"

Randall repeated those words in his head. 'You're really cool'. Never had he thought of a kid to say that about him. Before this moment he wondered how children depicted him for so long: a scary huge lizard that just wants to traumatize their little minds. But now, he is considered 'cool' by this girl. He smiled brightly at her then.

Outside, Vanessie smiled as well, seeing how happy Randall was with this girl.

"Well," Randall began. "I shouldn't be the only cool one here." he walked up to the girl, now sitting down patiently. "I never saw a girl who's interested in boyish things. What's your name, pipsqueak?"

"It's Katie," she said, still grinning.

"That's a pretty name," Randall laughed softly. "You know you're cool, too?"

"I am?" she asked in a questioning voice. "But... I'm bullied at my school. I don't think I'm cool."

Randall's expression changed to concern. "Why are you bullied?"

Katie hesitated for a moment before she worked up the nerve to answer. "Well, the girls at my school think that I'm weird because I like boy stuff. And the boys think that's weird, too. They don't want a girl in their groups."

Randall thought about what to say and Vanessie stared through the monitor to hear what it'll be. He then told Katie, "I used to feel that. I've had my share of bullies, and it does get you down. In fact, I'm one of the very few reptiles of where I come from."

"Really?"

"It's true. I had my brother and my mom, and there were a few more reptiles here and there, but there's not many of us."

"Wow," Katie sighed. "That's sad. I love reptiles."

Randall smiled again. "You know, a very smart monster taught me something special. It's that... People shouldn't judge you for what you're not, or else you become that person. I know I learned that, Katie."

Vanessie listened close to what he said and her mouth curved into a smile, thinking that smart monster he mentioned was her.

"Just because the kids at school think you're weird doesn't mean you are. They're just..." Randall stopped. "Trying to make themselves look better than you. But you know what I see, pipsqueak?"

She nodded, waiting.

"I see a fiery and excitable girl here, who is tougher than the kids at school." he grinned.

"Tougher," Katie thought. "So I can beat them up?"

"No! No!" Randall said urgently, chuckling inbetween. He could hear Vanessie giggle in the earpiece. "That's not what I meant! What I mean is that toughness in you; it can keep you strong on the inside. It can block what those kids say about you." he stopped and said, "See this scar?"

Vanessie blinked as he showed Katie the scar below his eye. Katie nodded.

"I got this ugly mark because of... A series of stupid decisions—"

"You said a bad word."

Randall chuckled again, making Katie laugh softly back. "Sorry; a series of really dumb decisions I made in my life. You don't want something like this, do you?"

Katie shook her head unhesitantly.

"Then could you do a fellow dragon a favor?"

"Yeah,"

"Promise me that you'll make smart choices. Don't be like how I was. You'll regret it." Randall paused for two seconds, then continued, "I don't know how to say this without making it sound cheesy, but... Be true to yourself, pipsqueak."

"I promise," she said, twisting her pinkie into one of Randall's, startling him a bit, but he felt a flush of redemption then, having this girl accept him so easily.

"This is sweet, Randy." he heard Vanessie say. "Awesome."

Randall smiled at the sound of Vanessie's voice, glad that he heard it at this moment. "Well, Katie, I have to go."

"Already? Why?" Katie asked eagerly.

"Well, Katie, we have different lives. I have mine to make better, and you have yours to make, too." Randall said with a sad sigh. "But I promise that I'll come back again."

Katie then made a gesture by twisting her pinkie again in the air, and Randall knew that she wanted a pinkie promise. He did the same back to her. He laid his hand on the doorknob.

"Wait!" Katie said in a desperate tone. "What's your name?"

Randall turned and looked at her with his light green eyes and gave her one last smile. "Randall. Randall Boggs."

"Bye bye, Randall." Katie said.

"Bye," the last she saw of Katie was her getting herself back into bed. He hoped that she would take his advice, but he knew how smart she was. Kids were not stupid after all. They had feelings; sensitive feelings and thoughts. They took many things seriously than most adults do. It was a remarkable thing, he thought. Now he knew the connection Sulley with the girl he called "Boo" and Vanessie with Alani. It's the feeling of being a role model to those kids and being their light. He never thought of being someone else's light, but now realizing it, he felt happy he meant to much to a little girl like Katie. He wished he could see her again soon.

Vanessie saw Randall come out of the door with a face of relief and contentment. She smiled at him.

"How did I do?" Randall asked her.

Vanessie breathed deeply in and out and told him honestly, "You did great. I can see you got through to her. And she got through to you."

"She did."

"Well, there are more canisters and more kids to make laugh. Still, you look like Katie'll be your favorite of all." Vanessie grinned.

"Yeah," Randall said. She said that truly. He was his first kid to make laugh and probably the best moment of work he'll remember from now on. Katie had potential in life and she could be someone valuable someday. Kids could be valuable someday. They have a lot to go through in life. "I'm starting to like this."

"That's the spirit, Randy." Vanessie nudged him with a grin. "Your next door is coming. Do your stuff."

As much as Randall wanted to linger with the rest of the kids he visited like Vanessie did, he made it worth the time he had in that session. Through that time, Vanessie looked at him through her monitor, smiling and giggling at Randall's attempts. She knew that he was having a great time feeling redeemed with those children. In many ways, they reminded him of Katie with her witty nature and sweet disposition.

By the end of the day, he filled twelve canisters. He was amazed at how much he did.

"Nice job, Randy." Vanessie complimented. "Keep this up, and you could probably surpass Wazowski."

Randall heard footsteps approaching and found Wazowski coming up to them. "Speak of the devil."

Vanessie shushed him, punched his arm and whispered in a forced tone, "¡Cállate! Be nice!"

Mike came over and saw all the filled canisters. He blew a soft whistle and said, "Wow, Randall," he said with his lips pursed in a somewhat pompous way. "I have to say, you made an improvement."

Randall felt a bit odd, usually used to Wazowski's insults. "Yeah... Thanks."

"Just wait, Mike," Vanessie cut in. "Maybe someday, Randy could be as good as you."

"Randy?" Mike said, grinning, and shrugged Randall as he said in a low voice. "You have a pet name, do you?"

"It's not like that." Randall said, looking at Vanessie if she noticed their conversation.

"Okay, but if you need any advice, rookie, you know Mike 'the Loveboat' Wazowski." the eyeball said.

Randall gave Mike an awkward look before he left.

Vanessie came to Randall again with her paperwork and noticed his expression."I told you to be nice."

"I did," Randall said in a distressed tone. "It's just that he's still annoying to me."

"Oh," Vanessie laughed. "Well, it's time to clock out."

"I'll walk you out."

After Vanessie turned in her paperwork to Roz and was about to leave the company with Randall escorting her until the lady she met a few weeks ago stopped her. It was Celia.

"Hi, Vanessie." she said in her honey voice.

"Oh, hey," Vanessie said. "How are you?"

"Great. Just great." Celia said. "Anyway, where do you get your hair done?"

"My hair? Oh, from a salon close by. But," Vanessie looked at Celia's headful of purple snakes. "I think I remember that the dye is safe on animals, but I can't be sure."

"Oh, thank you," Celia smiled. She looked over Vanessie and saw Randall waiting, looking away eagerly. "He's your friend?"

"Yeah," Vanessie said. "Trust me, he's not all that bad."

"I see,"

"Shmoopsie-poo!" Mike exclaimed lovingly. "There you are!"

"Googly-bear!" she cried. "I missed you today!"

Mike swept her off her tentacles and they started sweet-talking to each other. Vanessie thought this was her cue to leave already and started to walk towards the barely-patient Randall. "I think I'm ready to go."

"Thanks," the lizard said. "Another minute and I would've puked."

They started walking and Vanessie said, "But they're cute."

Randall chuckled. He did have to admit that Celia and Wazowski were perfect for each other, but not cute since he remembered the constant make-outs during work they had before he lived in the bayou. But then he also remembered that most girls were romantics, and Vanessie was no exception. He just wondered how much of a romantic she was.

"You ever been in that kind of thing?" she asked him.

He knew what she meant by "thing". "No. You?"

"Nah," Vanessie said with a laugh. "Remember, since my mother was gone, I was never social. Besides, I don't know if anyone would be interested in me." She looked back at Mike and Celia and said, "They look very much interested in each other."

"You're not worried about finding... Someone interested in you?" Randall asked rather timidly.

"I used to; years ago. But not anymore. I have my own life to make, and I let time do its work on something like that." she smiled. "Besides, I got a reliable friend like you, anyway."

Randall smiled back at her, looking into her brown eyes again, so vibrant and rich in the evening that he swore he saw the sun in them. Her hair also looked magenta in the light of the setting sun as it blew softly in the autumn air, her bangs covering her right eye a bit. He wished he had the guts to make a gesture of brushing her bangs over her eyes, but he was too insecure for such a gesture like that. he never thought he could be tender with her, as if he would mess up if he tried.

"You're a good friend, too." he said. "Well, you're on your way, then?"

"Yeah, to my next job. I guess I'll see you tomorrow, Randy." she said, giving him a light punch once more. "Bye."

He loved how her humor and spunkiness would make even a goodbye seem pleasant. He rubbed his arm where she punched and grinned at her, "You, too. Bye."

Vanessie sent him one last charming smile for the day, feeling another flush of warmth before she looked on in front of her. He then looked at the rhythmic way her hips swayed when she walked and her slender waist. As soon as he realized what he was doing, he looked away and shook the thoughts from his head. But when he walked home, he did grin at the memory.


	8. Chapter 7

Winds of Change-A Monsters, Inc. fanfic

Chapter 7

During the week, Randall enjoyed himself making kids laugh. He came up with ways to amuse the kids by taking advantage of his color-changing ability and before he came to work, he practiced and rehearsed his abilities by changing his colors and patterns every morning. During that week, Vanessie even helped him by letting him borrow an art book her mother gave her when she was younger of abstract paintings and unique designs for his talent.

He took note of the kids' rooms to determine their personality like how Vanessie helped him with Katie. Here and there, he stayed longer with a child to relate to them, and give them advice not to turn out how he used to be. Each time he was done with a kid, he felt a sense of pride, in good sense, and acceptance despite his look and past. Even though the kids didn't know that, it was for the best for them to know him now, not then.

He even became more known in the company by the staff, but he mostly spent time with his partner, knowing that he owes it all to her for her wisdom and kindness for him.

On Friday, Randall gave Vanessie the honors of meeting up with her favorite kid again, Alani, when he felt that she wanted to feel that motherly presence again. Without hesitation, she programmed her computer to bring the exact door too their station, Randall volunteering to fill her paperwork for her and placing in the canister.

When it was ready to be used, Vanessie knocked on the door the same way she did and on the other side, she could hear a gasp and heard the doorknob turn slightly. She grabbed it herself and opened it, seeing the little girl before her.

"Vanessie!" Alani whispered excitedly.

Vanessie squeezed herself into the door to not let her into her world and shut the door carefully, smiling down at the girl with open arms. "Hi, sweetie."

Alani hugged the monster comfortably. As Randall looked at Vanessie in his monitor, he recalled the moment she first came to this girl's room. For some reason, he enjoyed seeing Vanessie in her motherly approach to Alani.

"How are you?" Vanessie asked, running her black fingers through the girl's hair in a maternal fashion.

"I'm great! I missed you!" Alani embraced Vanessie again and once again, Randall felt a warm feeling at the gesture.

That whole time, Vanessie and her girl talked more and knew more about each other. The one thing she received from her was a scribble drawing of herself to take back to her world, which Randall knew she would take great pride in. And she did.

Saturday came and Randall was walking over to Vanessie's apartment to pick her up there so he could help her with shopping, even though he wasn't such a huge fan of shopping. But he knew that she would love it anyway, with her being a girl.

He brung a single scarf with him to at least give him warmth for going out today since the cold air made his scar throb a bit. He was only grateful that her address wasn't too far away from his.

When he arrived to her apartment, his fronds shot up as he heard loud yowls through the door. His eyes widened in worry, panicking if Vanessie were in danger in there.

"Vanessie!" he yelled. "Are you alright?!"

He jumped after the door opened and a soaking black ball that looked like a rat escaped out of it.

"Chimmy!" Vanessie cried. "Randy, help me get her!"

Chimmy? He didn't know who this Chimmy was, but he guessed it was the wet animal's name and immediately did as requested. The ratlike creature was running through the halls and when Randall figure that it was only them in the hallway, he blended away. The little beast stopped and looked around curiously. It sat on its wet behind and mewed, shaking it's damp arm in a frenzy.

Randall snuck up to the rat, still camouflaging with the walls and carpet. Then he noticed that it had bat-like wings. Right when he was about to curse, he felt relieved that the creature looked too young and heavy with water in its fur to try to fly away.

Then he pounced and caught the little rat-bat in his grip, the animal yowling and staring at Randall with beady, dilated eyes. It raised its paw, retracted its claws and struck at Randall's face. He winced a bit, glad that the tiny claws on this creature were no harm at all, but he started to get annoyed by it when it did it repeatedly.

"STOP IT, YOU LITTLE—"

"Randy, don't hurt her," Vanessie said urgently as she came with a towel. "She doesn't mean it. She's agitated from her bath."

On impulse, she wrapped the little devil off of the lizard and held it tightly against her, making sure it wouldn't escape from her grasp. The thing let out a low moan in defeat, glaring at Randall with her dilated yellow-green eyes.

The second Randall was about to ask her why she had tenderness for such a little demon, she answered him with, "I found her when I went to my second job last night. The poor baby was stranded and all alone, I had to beg my boss to let her stay until my shift was over. And she was very dirty, too. And—"

"Vanessie," Randall interrupted as he got to his feet. "Not to be rude or anything... But why do you have sympathy to own a rat?"

She scoffed. "She's not a rat! She's a batcat. She's just so wet, she kind of looks like a rat." She faced the kitten and said, scrunching her snout. "But this baby just wants to feel dry and clean and super fluffy!" The kitten mewed neutrally in response, still feeling despair in her dampness. She looked up to see Randall looking at her awkwardly. "What? She's cute, she's my baby, and you should really see her when she's dry. She's the most adorable thing you'll ever see."

"As adorable as her claws?"

Vanessie held her dear kitten and covered its pointy ears, saying softly to her, "No, don't listen to him, no... He didn't mean that."

Randall rolled his eyes and chuckled. He still thought the "catbat" looked more like a "ratbat".

"I still have to dry her up. You want to come in?"

"Yeah, sure," he said with ease.

After Vanessie led Randall inside her drab apartment, still holding her beloved rat-kitten, she politely served her friend a mug of coffee on the small table and left the room to tend to her pet in the bathroom. He hung his scarf on the backrest of the chair he sat on.

Randall looked around the room and laughed softly to himself, thinking how in a few hours, Vanessie's future new furniture would give this small apartment have its own personality. He then thought and remembered that it has been a whole week since he and Vanessie made up in this same room, same time.

Five minutes later, he saw a ball of fluff trotting out of the bathroom. The poofy blob had short fur, now looking more like a batcat. It tried to fly up to Vanessie's couch, only to jump instead, its wings too inexperienced to soar yet. It mewed as it licked its stubby paw.

Vanessie stepped out of the bathroom after and smiled down at her kitten and said, "Floja. Coqueta. Little lazy baby." At the sound of her owner's baby talk, she laid down to be happily praised for, making Randall shake his head in amusememt. "Oh, ¡bebesita chula! Preciosa." she squealed and kissed the top of the kitten's head.

Randall saw how sweet and caring Vanessie was to children. Seeing her being so to animals really interested him just as much, and his eyes lingered on her when she finally approached him.

"I just want to stick around and fuel myself with coffee if you don't mind." Vanessie laughed.

"As long as your cottonball doesn't get near my face meanwhile, I don't mind." Randall said, looking at the napping kitten already snoozing up in a serene dream.

"Her name's Chimmy. And don't have a grudge on her; she can be a sweetheart to you. You just have to approach her softly, that's all." Vanessie said after filling her own mug with coffee. "But I think getting new furniture wouldn't bother her. She only came in last night."

Randall nodded. "So how have you been?"

"Oh, good. At least I have something to do this weekend. you?"

"Same. I'm tired of spending my mornings lying in bed like a blob of nothing. Also no leeches or mosquitos to worry about, either."

"It must've been very hard in the Human World, huh?" Vanessie'' asked with a concerned look, looking right at Randall's scar.

"Yeah, it was, especially somewhere savage as that bayou."

"How did you get that scar, of you don't mind my asking."

Randall took another sip of his coffee and breathed out. "The second I was in the Human World, I was in a trailer with two hillbillies. They had a shovel". Try to do the math."

Vanessie winced a bit. "I can guess that it was very painful..."

"It was. It left a bleeding gash for days. It could've been worse if I didn't escape on time."

"Oh, you poor thing. And here I was thinking that you got that scar from a fight or something." she said. Then her eyes widened. "Wait here."

She fled from the table to look under her bed, only her swaying tail and legs visible. Randall tried to be a gentlemonster and look away, but he couldn't resist seeing the once-in-a-lifetime sight.

He should've known that the sight was temporary, for she emerged from under the bed to have a box in her hands and looked inside for what she wanted to get out. She took out a single small container of what looked to be a medication and sighed in exhaustion from her small journey looking for it under her bed. She came over to where Randall sat and turned open the container.

"What's that?" Randall asked as he looked over to see a clear cream in the container.

"It's a cure for your scar. My dad used to be a expert on remedies and cures for small sicknesses. With him having used to live in his country, he knows a bit about these things." she said as she took a dab of the cream. "I just hope it still works... On you."

Then to his surprise, she stepped in front of Randall, bringing her face a few inches inches from his. He flinched a bit when he heard Vanessie's soft voice say to him, "Hold still". She held his jaw to keep him at an angle so she could see the scar clearly in the slightly dim room. He then felt a soft flush through him when he felt her delicate, dainty fingers in the place below his eye, where his scar was. She applied the cream so carefully, so elegantly, so quietly. He began to feel tingly where she touched his face, but concluded that it was the medication taking effect on his skin. It felt so good. Especially with the addition of Vanessie's touch.

Randall's green eyes looked up at Vanessie and laid his eyes on her animated eyes. She looked so focused and calm, her brown eyes now looking black in the soft darkness. He also noticed how long her eyelashes were and how pretty they looked when she bat them like butterfly wings. His heart pounded tremendously, wondering why so, and adjusted himself slowly for Vanessie not to notice his awkwardness. He tried gulping down as quietly as he could but he couldn't do anything at this point. He froze.

When she was done, he felt her fingers on his jaw' brush away and was bewildered by what just happened. Such a gesture was too electrifying for friends to do, at least to him. He thought that that she didn't feel the same on her end. He looked up at her again and saw her smiling at him warmly.

"There," she said. "That ought to do you good. You feel anything?"

Randall exhaled heavily, his heart slowly beating down a bit, before he said, "Definitely."

Hours later, Vanessie and Randall came back to the former's apartment after having such a long day out buying new furniture. Vanessie was elated when she found furniture in the theme of red shades, which Randall found quite obvious to guess why since she did sport red hair and mane. The coffee table was rich redwood, with a shade of tuscan red that Vanessie just devoured in. The sofa had soft cushions and pillows. The scarlet drapes were just lovely with an attractive graphic flower design. The table set made her stare. The look on her face told him that it was perfect; her eyes glittering at the sight of the comfortable style. He just had to get it for her. And he did, proudly. It was all set to deliver in a few hours and Randall promised to help her out with hauling the stuff in.

The truck came and the two had equal effort in putting everything in place with Vanessie leading Randall to wherever she visioned the furniture destined to be. Her batcat trotted around, following Vanessie while she worked and rubbed against her mommy's leg, begging for attention.

She did the same to Randall, as if begging forgiveness for hitting his face with her paw. He only looked down at her each time she did so and asked her, "What?", and she would meow back with her tiny head cocked to one side. While Randall didn't know how to respond to the kitten, he appreciated her affections.

The two were glad that they didn't have to deal with Chimmy's shenanigans after she laid on the red sofa that was set to stay. After everything else was set, Vanessie and Randall sat next to a snoozing Chimmy. They both looked at the red room, the drapes making the whole room shine in a warm magenta color. The room looked more exquisite for a one-room apartment.

Vanessie sighed. "Wow. It looks beautiful."

Randall turned his head to look at Vanessie marveling at the room, the hand that delicately touched his scar earlier now petting the plush fur of her kitten. With the magenta light spilling through the curtains, Vanessie looked light-blue violet and her hair shone hot pink, looking vibrant as ever.

"Very," Randall said hopelessly. He looked back to the walls before Vanessie would suspect him looking at her in such a way.

"You know," Vanessie began, beaming. "The day's still young. Why don't you stick around?"

"There's nothing else for me to do," Randall muttered. "Why not?"

Vanessie fixed up an unusual drink for the two of them that evening. It was something called atole, and Randall was hesitant at first until he did take a taste of it. It wasn't as spectacular as coffee, but he liked it nonetheless. It was sweet, thick, frothy and just right for a night like this. A night like this being with Vanessie.

"How do you like it?" Vanessie asked as she finally sat herself down on the new dining table with Randall.

"It's nice," he said. "I like it. I've never heard of it before."

"Me neither. Until my dad had me try it years ago. My favorite's the strawberry flavor." she grinned. "But he knew a lot of stuff."

"I'll bet."

"Yep," she said as her smile turned to a frown. "Yet the only thing he didn't know was... Y'know, how mom was taken away."

Randall didn't know what to say at first, but then said, "It's a shame he was gone before he got any answers."

"Yeah," Vanessie said. "And if by chance my mother IS still alive today... She would be heartbroken if she knew. Just knowing how she'd react."

"How did you react?" Randall asked.

Vanessie sighed heavily and took another sip of her atole before she spoke, "Depressed. Like I've fallen off a cliff and there was no way of climbing back up again. My second parent, my father, who made me laugh and smile after I would cry over mom... And then I cried over him, too. Every night after that, I was crying. I was completely alone then. Like I told you before, my friends left me. Without any of my parents there, I was just..." she stopped, her right hand balled into a fist before she inhaled and breathed again. "I was young. I was just a teenager. I still depended on my parents. It was so... traumatizing..."

"I'm so sorry," Randall said softly.

"And then I see these kids," she said. "They have their parents' love, and I really hope that they keep that. Alani, your kid, Katie; they are so alive. They reminded me of who I used to be like. I don't want them to turn out like me; lost, confused and lonely. I mean, parents could disappear out of nowhere. If that were to happen to them, I want them to know that it's not the end of the world. That they can be strong enough to live on."

"That's nice of you, " Randall replied before taking another sip. "But... You kind of had your own reason to worry. It's all a mystery to you."

"I know," Vanessie said, then looked to the ground, her brows lowered. "I have to find out."

"What?"

"My father was killed right after my mother disappeared. It has to mean something. Someone was responsible for it. I know it." she said seriously. "But I need help."

Randall's eyes gazed at hers, desperate, concerned and serious. He didn't know what to tell her. But then again, he wanted to do anything for her. If this were to bring her peace, then why not? But... But...

"Why wonder now?"

"Randy, I've always been concerned about my parents. It's just I couldn't do anything about it. But now that I have the job my mother had, I think there could be clues to the reason she was banished and... And possibly find her if the possibility comes."

"Vanessie—"

"Please, Randall," she pleaded softly. Now he knew she was serious knowing that she called him by his real name, not "Randy". He was shaken a bit by that. He couldn't say no to her at this point. And he didn't want to. He wanted to help her. But doing such a thing could bring consequences. Dire consequences. It could probably mean being banished again. Or her sharing the same fate as her mother. But he looked into her eyes again; those orbs of confusion and needing trust.

"Okay," he said. "I'll try to help as much as I can. It does sound a bit fishy."

Vanessie looked at him with wide eyes.

"No offense."

"It's okay. And thank you very much." Vanessie said graciously, then frowned. "Crud, I feel like you're doing too much for me and I didn't do anything back."

After having her as his close friend, her spending her time with him and having that intimate moment with him that morning, Randall wouldn't ask for more at all. Personally, he thought they were quite even.

"No, don't think that." he said. "You've done a lot."

"Really? Like what?"

He stopped. He reminded himself how he was not such an expressive personality, but deep down, he wanted to tell her how much she meant to him. But how to say it? How to say it without sounding like a complete idiot? He cleared his throat, Vanessie still waiting and he said, "For being my first real friend."

Her mouth slowly curved into another heart-twisting smile, and again, he couldn't look away. "Am I really?"

"I'm honest." Randall said. "Everyone else kind of shunned me because of who I am."

"Or who you used to be." Vanessie said. Randall's breath caught. "Randy, you used to be so angry, so... Vengeful and cold. Right now... You don't seem like that anymore."

He thought about it. He never yelled at anyone in such a long time. He tried to control himself the past week and so far, he figured that he had improved so. It was something he never noticed.

"I don't, huh?" he grinned.

"You still have that sneaky, lizard-like charm." Vanessie smiled back.

"Tell me if that's bad or good."

"It's good... If you use it wisely."

Randall chuckled. He began to feel glad that he had her as a friend. Someone to relate to and confide in. Someone to really talk to without them judging him in any way. He knew that Vanessie didn't judge him, and liked liked him, and the first person besides family to ever like him. It was odd, but he was happy for it. For once, besides Katie and the other human children he made laugh, he was accepted by somebody. Plus one, as he felt it rub against one of his legs down below him.

He looked down and saw Chimmy brushing herself against him affectionately and mewed at him.

"What?" Randall asked.

Vanessie laughed and took the batcat into her arms, baby-talking her with so much love and care. It reminded him of how she treated the human kids at work; the maternal nature she had with them. It was then that Randall wondered if she would be like this if she were to have any children, and decided yes, she would be. She would be as nurturing and loving as her own mother. That is, if she were to have a mate to be able to have something as serious as a family with. He then thought about how envious he would be if she were to find that guy in the future. If it weren't him.


	9. Chapter 8

Winds of Change-A Monsters, Inc. fanfic

Chapter 8

"So you're asking advice from me this early in the morning? If I didn't know any better, Randall Boggs, I'd say you're in lo-O-ove."

"Listen, you cretin! You—!" Randall stopped after realizing that he snapped and wished to stabilize his emotions, starting to run to the faucets of the locker room to wet his fronds and calm down around Wazowski.

"If it makes you feel better, you said 'cretin' correctly this time." Mike said, catching up to the lizard.

"I'm NOT in love with her." Randall said under his breath. "I just... Kind of have a crush on her."

"Oh, Randall," the spherical cyclops said. "There's no shame in confessing your love for someone. Why, when I told Sulley that I was in love with my Schmoopsie-Poo, I was so elated and carefree!"

"It's so easy for you." Randall said. "I don't know how to say that without... Without sounding like a creep."

"She wouldn't judge you like that... Would she?" Mile asked.

Randall paused and shook his head. "I don't know. She's been the first person to ever get this close to me. Do you know how I felt when we first hugged?"

"How?"

Randall recalled that hug. How soft her red mane felt. How flowery she smelled. How soft and smooth her skin was. It was guilty pleasure to him he remembered every time he saw her, . "I was off-balance. It was nothing anyone else ever did to me. It felt warm, comforting and... AUGH!" he slammed at one of the stalls behind him, making Mike jump in shock. "How come I can't tell her that?!"

"Take some time to get a bit closer, I guess." Mike suggested. "I mean, I see you're still a bit insecure with your feelings. It's very complicated to think about. It is. But I can tell you, it's an amazing thing to know that someone you love loves you back just the same. I know it is after having Celia."

Then Randall remembered what Vanessie said about Mike and Celia days ago, "They look cute." He thought that she was probably thinking about having that amazing feeling sometime in her life, and she was willing to wait. But he wanted to show her that possibly that someone was there the whole time. He frowned.

"Still," Randall said. "Sometimes... I feel like I don't deserve her. I mean... Can you picture us?"

Mike thought about it. "It does seem like a weird match, but love has no conditions. All in all, let her come to you and then you can express how you feel. Just be patient."

"I don't know," Randall replied.

Mike lowered his brow and said, "You're very stubborn, Slick. Fine, you want me to tell you what you want to hear, then listen. Do you know what the company is doing today?"

Randall lifted his head in interest. "What?"

"They're coming up with another method of collecting laughter, but from our own world. They're going to start using this method once a month. So they close down the laugh floor for us to do this in. Do you know what it is?"

Randall waited for the answer.

"Dodgeball."

'That... Sounds very stupid...' Randall thought as soon as the word slipped out. "And that's gonna help me... How?"

"Randall, it's a sport. If you're teams with Vanessie, then you can try to save her to dodge the balls. Sweep her off her feet. Get it on, Slick. I mean, you're swift and quick, if she gets close to being hit, you could rescue her."

Randall grinned at the thought. "That is clever." He could picture himself saving Vanessie from a ball hurling at her in full speed. Randall was the gallant hero and Vanessie fainted at his epic heroism, him catching Vanessie before she hit the ground. "It might work."

"Hey, Randy," Vanessie said with a smile, then pointed at him. "I see you've been using the medication I gave you."

Randall looked at her and noticed that the skylight of the Laugh Floor made her red hair look more vibrant and fiery. He wanted to run his hands in it to feel the downy softness of it; if it were as soft as her mane. 'Soon,' Randall thought to himself. He touched his scar, which was slowly fading away.

"Yeah, I have, " he said with a half-smile.

Vanessie looked around with wandering eyes and had a questionable look on her face when she came next to him. "What's going on? We're not using doors today?"

"No, they're using a new method for collecting laughs."

"Oh, what is it?"

Randall tried to sound like how Mike said, "Dodgeball."

Immediately, Vanessie reacted the same way he did in the locker room. But she had more of a worried look on her face.

"Oh, GAD, you serious?"

"Yeah, why?"

"I hate dodgeball!" she said in disgust. "In middle school, I used to get hit all the time."

Randall then wanted to say, 'I'll protect you this time.', but after realizing how cheesy and stupid it sounded, he remained silent.

"Well, I'm a big girl now. I don't think that dodgeballs can hurt me as much as being a kid." Vanessie said in a hopeful voice.

They chatted there for a while until more confused monsters came in, with them explaining them what the occasion was. They all reacted the same way, in the same weirded out expressions and tones.

It was until Sulley came into the floor with a smile, the monsters crowding him with endless questions. Sulley raised his huge arm to silence them without effort, and they did become quiet. Vanessie and Randall remained at their station and looked at a distance.

"Please tell me it isn't true," Vanessie said in a low whisper.

"Alright, men," Sulley said. Vanessie cleared her throat rather loudly. "And one lady," Vanessie sent him a thumbs up. "I see you have heard that we're doing something a bit different today. Now, I do understand you guys. Why are we going to play a middle-school game? Well, I think that sometimes, we just have to loosen up and have fun. Isn't that what work is supposed to be like?"

There were murmurs of agreement in the crowd.

"So then I thought this would be an opportunity to get us closer together. I mean, we all seem like strangers. The only person you know at work is obviously your partner, but this could make work fun by mingling this way. What do you guys think?"

The crowd of monsters agreed once again.

"I guess it's a legitimate reason," Vanessie said. "But I don't want to get hit. I can't get hit."

"I think they'll go easy on you," Randall said.

"Why?"

"Because you're the only female here." Randall replied with a chuckle.

"Now, that is sexist."

"And also realistic."

Vanessie gave him her signature punches on the shoulder again. He didn't mind it at all and laughed quietly at her.

"So, we'll form the teams!" Sulley announced. "I will choose the captains. It will be Mike Wazowski and Randall Boggs."

Randall's chameleon eyes widened at the mention of his name and flinched. When he saw everyone's eyes on him, he paled his color slightly. Mike came out from the crowd and approached Randall with a grin, reminding him of the talk they had, making the awkwardness worse with Vanessie right next to him.

"What's wrong?" Vanessie asked.

"Nothing, nothing." Randall replied, trying to compose himself before Wazowski came and lifted his arm towards him.

"Good luck," Wazowski said as he shook Randall's hand. At that, Randall sighed, hoping this game would end well.

"Vanessie. My team." he said.

Vanessie groaned loudly in feigned annoyance. "I know that you'd pick me sometime, but calling me first, Randy? This'll be torture."

"Don't worry." Randall said, then breathed in before he said, "I got your back."

Vanessie's frown turned upside down at his remark. When Randall turned his head to face the monster crowd, he sighed a sigh of relief. For once, a cheesy line didn't backfire. Beginner's luck.

Randall chose a few more monsters on his team, taking turns with Wazowski. He chose the strongest monsters he could pick that Mike didn't take from him, but in the end, he had to choose Needleman and Smitty because they were the only ones left, to his dismay.

They were explained about the rules and information, which all startled all the monsters. It was not an ordinary game of dodgeball at all. There was a monster with numerous eyes left in charge to keep track of how many times each monster hits an opponent or gets hit. Any hits by a team would add points, and any member getting hit by an opponent would decrease points. Also, what confused them the most were the balls they had to use. There were so many. There was a pet ball that follows the monster it hits for half a minute, a hamster ball that would put a monster hit by it into a huge hamster for the same amount of time, half a minute, and also a disco ball. All the extreme ones had time limits. The only ones that didn't scare them much were the normal red balls. Still, it was an interesting game to wait for.

"Jeez," Vanessie whispered to Randall. "Plan my funeral. I'm gonna die today. I know it."

"Just don't worry about it," Randall reassured in a cool tone. "I have to say, they really thought this through."

"It's like they know when my death date is," Vanessie said. "I bet they even got a tombstone ready for me."

"Now you're exaggerating." Randall chuckled.

"No, I'm scared."

"Oh, Van—"

"Shut up," Vanessie said urgently. "Sulley's got more to say."

"Now, we want a clean and fair game here," Sulley announced. "Remember, we're doing this for fun and for all you guys to team with each other."

The teams mumbled a bit. Everyone moved to their selected teams; one on one half of the laugh floor and the other team on the opposite side.

Randall took note of Vanessie staying close to him as possible, of course, without making contact with him. But even so, Randall chuckled a bit to himself.

It was until she came a bit too close to him and her arm brushes slightly against one of his, causing her to flinch.

"I'm sorry." she said, blushing.

"It's alright," Randall replied, half-smiling. "And don't worry."

"Keep me away from those disco balls." she said.

"Why?"

"Just... Just help me with that." she said uneasily as she nervously watched a lone disco ball on the floor, just waiting to be thrown at.

"Okay," Randall said. "I will."

Then they heard the countdown commence. "We are on in seven... Six... Five.."

Randall looked at Vanessie in the corner of his eye and noticed the irises of her eyes shrink to slits. He didn't know how he did it or when he worked up the nerve, but he suddenly held her hand in his, gently squeezing it in reassurance. At the gesture, Vanessie quickly looked at him, her pupils now dilated. She returned the gesture by softly gripping his hand in hers.

When Randall wished the moment they looked at each other lasted longer, the siren blared and Vanessie immediately hid behind him with a faint squeak.

After two seconds already, balls were flying to and fro, with three monsters already hit, one of them being hit by a chicken. Fortunately, Randall's team hit five after that.

Randall took a few steps back, telling Vanessie behind him, "Get back, get back."

She obeyed and moved to the back of the monsters playing with Randall coming beside her.

"Vanessie, come on, are you doing this or not?" Randall asked, grabbing Vanessie's shoulders tensely, but gently.

"I don't know," Vanessie replied uneasily. "Look, it's not the game. I just get paranoid when things come at me so fast. Especially in a game designed to hit others VERY hard..."

"Vanessie, trust me," Randall said, his hands sliding down from her shoulders to her elbows, not feeling to let go. "Just stick around the back of the middle and you'll be alright."

"Okay," she said softly, her expression now serious as she looked into Randall's eyes. "But I'm passing the ball to you if I ever catch one. I have a suckish throw."

Randall chuckled at her.

At that Vanessie slowly but steadily moved herself to the middle of the team, knowing that she's making progress. Already she saw monsters in the other team in hamster balls and being chased by chickens. She couldn't help but giggle at the amusing sight.

She turned her head to see Randall playing and when she thought surprised her. She noticed how slender and agile his body was. She was very impressed by his quick and slick movements that she considered it as eye candy. Especially for an artist like her, who notes interesting forms, she couldn't stop looking at him without blushing a little.

She also noticed how much of a leader he was then; he commanded the members of his team, but in a way that was not severe and demanding. He did it in such an organized way. She knew if the old Randall were to be a team leader, he would be biting and nasty, but now, she noticed a huge difference in all that. She smiled as she watched him.

It was until she felt something hit her quick and sudden. By the time she fell to the floor, she looked next to her and saw what hit her; it was that darned disco ball. "Oh, crud." she mumbled to herself as she got up before the effects kicked in, her eyes glowing, as if what she was about to do was beyond her own control.

Randall looked back to where Vanessie stood to find her trying to get up from the ground. "Oh, crap." he said to himself. He felt as if he failed doing what he was advised to do. He looked over at the other team and saw Mike, obviously knowing what happened and shrugged.

Then he heard random music playing and turned his head back to Vanessie.

i"Now here we stay

It's all that we're worth

I've been through the pain and

Been dragged through the dirt

Whatever they tell you,

We're bigger than words

I've been where you're standing,

I know how it hurts"/i

As he heard Vanessie sing the words, he didn't know what to say. He didn't know how to react. He just stood there and listened to her voice in aghast.

i"Let this be our song now

Let this be our day

That we stand together

We'll be okay

Cause we're survivors

We're making it work

Expecting the best

When they hope for the worst" /i

Just then, Vanessie came back to consciousness, she looked completely confused and shaken. Randall scurried after her as fast as he could and kept his arms alert if she were dizzy enough to fall.

"What happened?" Vanessie asked curiously. "What did I do?"

"It's alright, Van, I'll tell you later." Randall said.

Vanessie's pupils shrunk fast as she yelled at him, "Randy! Watch out!" and pushed him down from an approaching ball coming at them.

"What was that?" Randall asked breathlessly.

"I don't know," Vanessie said. "It's like I felt a rush or something..."

"Well, keep that rush. We could've lost ourselves if you didn't save us there."

Vanessie laughed. "We make it sound like we're in a battlefield or something."

"Then let's make it like one." Randall grinned as he got up and gave Vanessie a hand up as well. "We're winning so far, so let's keep it that way."

"Cool," Vanessie smiled.

"OW!" Randall shouted after he got hit by a regular harmless ball. Vanessie's eyes followed the bouncing ball going away and looked back at Randall with a cocked eyebrow.

"Now that was your fault."

"We're still winning," he said with a grin. "Let's get out there now."

"Right."

Vanessie moved a bit to the front of the team, still shaken for what she was doing. Her eyes narrowed in concentration, somehow hearing a beat within her that shared the same rhythm as her heartbeat, rising in anticipation and boldness. Even though she didn't know exactly what she did, she knew that the effects are still there, for she still heard a song in her head, somehow giving her encouragement to get up there.

She noticed a huge dark blue monster in the back of the crowd about to throw a ball at her and in less than a second, it came right at her. She closed her eyes tightly as she stretched her arms out to try to catch it. It did land in her arms, but the speed of it pushes her backwards, her holding onto the ball tightly against her to not escape, Randall keeping an eye on her if something went wrong again. She opened her eyes and looked down to realize that her claws keeping her on the ground made scratches on the floor. Randall winced a little as he noticed, too. "Shoot." Vanessie mumbled.

But when she looked up at the monster who aimed at her, disappointed, she grinned, "Yeah, don't underestimate me just because I'm a chick."

She passed the ball to Randall with a smile. He grinned at her back. "So how's it for you?"

"It's kinda fun," she said with a giggle, feeling her heart pump rapidly with the music in her head. "Let's do more."

For the remainder of the game, Vanessie seemed to have more confidence in playing the game, although she still passed any ball she caught to Randall to throw; she tried to throw it at an opponent, but it was the weakest throw Randall ever saw. Vanessie thought so herself, too. In the end, Randall's team won, with Randall not even taking note how many points his team earned, but he took pride in it anyway.

The rest of the day was like a regular day where they made kids laugh. The whole time, Vanessie kept asking Randall what she did when she was hit by the disco ball.

"Van, when are you going to give up on that?" Randall said to her lightheartedly. "I told you that I'll tell you later."

"How much later?"

"After work, I promise."

Vanessie crossed her arms and after five second she nodded and said, "Alright. You should've told me that instead of making me wait with suspense."

"Wow, and I thought I wasn't so patient." Randall chuckled.

"Shut up." Vanessie replied with her signature friendly punches. "Now go in there. We got work to finish."

When they worked again, Vanessie found herself mesmerized by Randall's behavior with the kids he made laugh. She could tell that little by little each day, he was adjusting to liking the kids. She noticed mthe names he called them; Squirt, Shorty, Slick, Squeak, most of which Vanessie noticed started with "s". She always watched him on her monitor screen with her hand on her cheek thoughtfully, her flipper-ears loving the sound of Randall's voice in her earpiece. Every time he came back to the Monster World, Vanessie felt a flush of happiness as she saw his glimmering emerald green eyes. She also felt warm every single time he walks up to her with that cocky yet kind grin on his face after a door was used. She couldn't help but smile in his presence.

A little while later Randall saw Mike approaching him and excused himself from Vanessie. He walked a bit of distance to see if Mike was going to talk about how he did.

"So, Randall," Mike said. "What you did was not bad until..."

"I know," Randall said. "I let her get hit."

"Well," Mike glanced over to where Vanessie sat, noticing her contentment. "She doesn't seem to take it too hard."

"Yeah, she had fun with it, at least." Randall said.

"You can do better, though," Mike said. "Well, it's your first try. I know I screwed up when I tried to make a move on Celia."

"No," Randall said sarcastically.

"Yeah, I was so shy and embarrassed. At least you had a bit of confidence today."

Randall looked back at Vanessie and saw her fixing up the paperwork. He noted her dainty black-gloved fingers flipping through the pages thoughtfully and carefully. He recalled holding those small, feminine hands. So warm and soft. Then he pictured her touching his face the past weekend when she held on to his jaw gently, how tingly he felt. That was all she was; gentle, sweet and caring. Especially caring knowing how much she was concerned for him and willing to help him out.

"Wazowski," Randall said quietly. "I think you're right."

"About what?"

"About me," Randall paused to take a deep breath before he finished, "being in love with Vanessie."

Everyone started clocking out minutes later, Randall waiting patiently for Vanessie to finish her paperwork.

"Just one more minute," she said.

Randall would reply, "Yeah, I'll wait."

Five minutes actually passed, but Randall didn't mind one bit. Just knowing that she was around satisfied him enough. She turned in her paperwork to Roz, had a bit of small-talk with the slug and started leaving with Randall escorting her to the front of the company. Like often, they were taciturn to each other, but with Vanessie beside him, he wouldn't have it any other way. He wished he could hold hands with her without feeling like such a fool. He also didn't want to make her uncomfortable, for he knew that now, she didn't feel to him as he does to her. Then Vanessie spoke.

"So what did I do?"

Randall remembered that he promised to tell her after work. He sighed before he said, "Well, after you got hit... You sang."

"I sang?" Vanessie said.

"Yeah," Randall replied. "You did." He turned to look at her and saw her look away, probably embarrassed. "You alright?"

"That stupid ball made me do something I can't even remember and I find out now that it was me randomly singing without knowing it." she blushed.

Randall didn't know how to comfort her then. When they made it to the front doors, all he could sum up to say was, "You have a nice voice."

She turned to face him again before she could push the handlebars of the door, her eyes glossy. She sighed as she looked back at the floor. Then she said quietly, "You're just saying that." and opened the doors.

"No," Randall said in a pleading voice following after her. "No, no, I'm not."

"Then what are you saying?" she asked him with a sigh.

"Look, I wanted to save you from that ball," Randall admitted. "I really wanted to. Hearing how much you hated to be hit, I didn't want to risk you having that to happen to you."

Vanessie breathed in deeply.

"And now I feel bad for letting it happen—"

When Vanessie started walking away with a huff, Randall was confused what he did. He thought of what he said immediately and realized that she thought he meant: that he lied about her voice being "nice."

"No, Van! Vanessie!" Randall yelled as he tried to catch up to the loch ness and grabbed her shoulder. "Vanessie, wait!"

"What?" she said as she turned to face him again, her eyes even glossier.

"I didn't mean it that way. I meant that I felt bad for letting you do something without you knowing it. But your singing was..." he paused to think about how to say it. "It was really something." He heard her sigh and he continued, "I know it doesn't say much, but you know I can't easily express myself. I don't know how to say how I feel without sounding like an idiot, like how I love yo–OUU–r work ethic." Randall said looking away so Vanessie couldn't see his nervous state. Fortunately, she didn't notice. "But I am sorry for not saving you from that ball."

Vanessie brushed her scarlet bangs away from her eyes silently and sniffed. It was cold out. She looked back at Randall and breathed, "You know what? It's alright. I guess I just need some coffee. I get the nerves when I don't have any." Then she made a small smile. "I'm sorry. I guess I'm cranky tonight for some reason."

"Don't worry." Randall said, grinning again after knowing that it's alright between them again. "I've had those kinds of days, myself."

She laughed. Then her eyes widened a bit. Her smile grew. She raised her hand to his shoulder so suddenly that Randall flinched a bit. "Do you have anything to do right now?"

Randall always wanted to spend a bit more time with Vanessie on their work days, and he didn't have anything planned. He never did. All he did at home after work was just drink a cup of coffee by himself, thinking about his day with Vanessie. Of course, he didn't want to tell her that part. "Uh, no, I don't. Why?"

It seemed she thought about what she wanted for a second before Vanessie's smile lessened and swiped away her hand from his shoulder. "Nothing," she said. "I'm sorry, it was just a random thought."

"What is it?" Randall asked. "You can tell me."

She let out a breathy laugh and ran her hand through her bangs that tried to cover her face. Randall was thankful for the wind that moment. He thought that gesture she made was sexy. "I was... Just wondering if you would want to come to my second job and... I don't know, have a cup with me?"

Randall felt his heart skip a beat then. Then he felt embarrassed; date or not, she was the first to ask him someplace. But he was grateful for her request anyway. He hoped it'd be a step closer to something.

"Oh," Randall said, chuckling shyly. "Y–Yeah, sure. I'd love to."

"Great." she beamed.

"Is it far?"

"Nah, it's about ten minutes walking distance." Vanessie pointed to the direction. "Do you know the Hidden City Café?"

"Oh, yeah," Randall nodded. "You work there?"

"Yeah, but everyday except Saturday and Sunday." Vanessie said. "I took the extra Saturdays sometimes, though, to make enough dough for myself."

"Oh, no wonder I never see you there; I usually go on Sundays when nothing goes on."

"I guess so," Vanessie giggled. "So, shall we?"

"We shall."

On the way to Vanessie's second job, she and Randall talked to one another, Randall asking about how her little hair all Chimmy is doing and Vanessie getting an update of how Randall was finding methods of making himself more patient. There were laughs between them, and warm smiles sent. They walked at a rather slower pace than Vanessie usually did by herself on her way to work, which Randall was concerned with when he assumed more than ten minutes passed on their walk. Vanessie told him it was alright and there was nothing to worry about at all. She said something about her being always twenty minutes early at work, which eased Randall a little.

When they made it, Randall opened the door for Vanessie, her being astonished by his gentlemanly gesture. She fixed her bangs away from her eyes and laughed faintly. "My, I guess chivalry is still around."

"It's just opening a door," Randall grinned.

"Don't be so modest, Randy," Vanessie giggled. She walked through the door Randall so politely opened for her and he followed behind her.

The inside of the café was like it always was; very clean, comfortable and always smelling like fresh coffee. Randall remembered when he used to come here often to study for classes at MU. It was always quiet, warm and just so darn calm. A few people were in the building now, just minding their own business.

Vanessie went to greet a few of the people there, Randall guessed they were regulars at the joint. She made a wave here, a "How are you?" there, she made herself feel welcome. Then they asked her who "the guy" next to her was.

"Oh, he's a friend at my first job." she answered.

"You mean that guy that was on your nerves?" an old lady monster with six tentacles asked before sipping a cup of tea. Randall's eyes blinked upon hearing that. He didn't exactly feel hurt, but surprised instead.

Then Vanessie expressed an awkward laugh, running her hand through her red hair again. Randall assumed that anything Vanessie did with her hair was a nervous habit. "Mrs. Williams... Ehh.. Heh heh... Yeah, I should've updated the story on that..." she said before catching a quick glance at Randall's reaction. Apparently, she looked away as fast as she attempted to look at him. "Umm, but we're good friends now for quite a while. He's very reliable."

Randall was relieved to hear that and felt a warm feeling in his chest.

"Oh, we'll that's good." another monster with a fedora said. "Forgiveness and trust are good stuff."

"Very true, Mr. Gordon." Vanessie smiled, still looking embarrassed and uneasy. "Umm, will you excuse me?"

She led Randall to the end of the café where it was silent and no people sat and she said with a guilty expression, "I'm so sorry about that. It was so unexpected."

"Can't say it wasn't," Randall said. "But it's not a problem."

"Still, I feel bad about it. It was the day of our biggest fight; the day before we made up. I was mumbling under my breath of how much I hated you then and... Well, some of the regulars wanted to hear it, saying that it'll make me feel better if I let it out. I guess they wanted gossip out of a boring day. But I should've told them that it's different now."

"It is different now, and you shouldn't worry about it anymore," Randall said.

Vanessie's frown turned upside down then. "Okay. I just wanted to let you know about that... Y'know," she looked down to the floor fingered at the hair behind her flipper-ear; that nervous habit. "In case you were wondering."

Randall chuckled. "Come on. Let's have coffee, on me."

"Okay, let me just greet the boss and I'll serve us some," Vanessie said as she passed Randall and jumped as she saw her boss, a green short-haired fuzzy monster that resembled a bit like a fat dragon with tiny wings, come out of nowhere. "Dude, Tío! You almost scared me!"

"Hey, Vanessie. Sorry bout that." the monster said with a chuckle, then eyed the reptile monster behind Vanessie. "Who's your friend?"

"Oh," Vanessie, smiled as she turned to introduce the two. "Tío, this is Randall Boggs, who IS my friend now. Randy, here's Luis, or I call him Tío because he's like an uncle to me."

"Friends now?" Tío asked Randall as he reached out his hand for a handshake. "Well, very nice!"

Randall shook the monster's hand, not having an idea what to say, but smiled politely.

"Yeah, I just wanted him to come over to see how it's like here and we could have a coffee and such," Vanessie said.

"Oh," Luis said. "Well, there's not much people requesting for a portrait from you now, Vanessie. If you want, you can hang around with your friend."

Vanessie noticed her boss winking at her, wondering why he did so. She shook it off and said, "You sure?"

"Oh, yeah. Take a load off until someone does come for your talents." he said. "Here, I'll get you two—"

"No, no, allow me." Vanessie said as she went behind the counter to pour some coffee for herself and Randall. "I did invite him over anyway. I want to be a good host."

"You surprise me in many ways, Vanessie."

Vanessie laughed as she poured. Then she heard Luis say, to Randall, she knew, "That's how she always is: taking things into her own matters. Even I offered to help her out when she was a teenager. She told me that she had to do it all herself."

'That isn't really much new,' Randall thought, but he listened with amusement anyway.

"I wanted to develop my responsibilities on my own, Tío." Vanessie replied with a laugh. "I was a stupid teenager; I was bound to make stupid decisions."

"You weren't a stupid teenager. You were just... Out of hand with your choice of doing things yourself."

"Well, it's a good thing she grew out of it." Randall cut in, then saw Vanessie return with two mugs with her. "Even if she still can be insistent on being the host of almost everything."

Vanessie punched his arm again.

"It's funny," Luis said. "It seemed she grew out of it for the past weeks."

"Yeah," Vanessie said. "Right after we made up."

Randall looked up and saw Vanessie smiling at him. She didn't say anything at all. His only reply was a smile back. He knew he was responsible for Vanessies change in becoming calmer and making her realize that she can't do all things herself. He knew that she counted on him on many things, and he always wanted to be by her side. He figured that was why he smiled back.

"Well, I'll leave you two, then." the boss said before he left Randall and Vanessie alone.

"So, he's like your uncle?" Randall said as he took a sip of his coffee.

"Well, yeah. He saw how needy I was for a job to take care of myself when I was a teen. He did provide for me for a short while before I told him I could do things myself without help. But I've been working here for the longest time. Every other second job I couldn't handle. But here is just as close as it gets for me having my dream job." she said before she, too, took a sip.

"He seems like a nice guy,"

"Oh, he's quite the jokester. And an optomist." Vanessie smiled.

He nodded. What Vanessie didn't expect was what he asked her next.

"Did you ever wish you had a chance?"

She sent him a puzzled look. "A chance for what?"

"To go to an art school. And to have that dream job of yours."

Oh, she has. A hell of a lot of times. The was not one moment in the day where she didn't think about herself being a professional artist. Being able to render any kind of medium of art. Something her parents always encouraged her to do since her childhood.

She laughed sadly and quietly. "Of course I have." she took a long sip of her caramel coffee before she continued. "Many times. But you know, I don't worry about that so much now."

Randall blinked confusedly. "Why?"

"Because I get to work with a great friend like you." she beamed sweetly.

He felt so flattered, but there was that word: friend. He wanted her to see things the way he did. He was in love with her. He loved her little nervous habits, the teasing way she punched him on his arm, he loved the way her chocolate brown eyes shimmered brownish-gold in the sunlight, or any light. Most of all, he loved her tender and sensitive nature. Everything she did was for a good purpose; her getting the job in MI for her mother, taking in her kitten to care for it as her own, her forgiving him for being nasty to her in the beginning when most wouldn't. He knew her influence came to him, too, wanting to do things for good purposes. He wanted her so much. Course, that can't happen. At least now it can't, since Vanessie doesn't seem to be ready for something like that.

"You're a great friend, too." was all Randall could say. He felt a sense of hope when he swore he saw Vanessie blush a bit—followed by a brush of her bangs.

"What school did you go to?" she asked.

"I went to Monsters University," He answered. "It's not what you would like, I'm sure, but I majored in scaring there."

"I've heard of it." Vanessie said. "It was never my first choice. Especially since it has a major in scaring, something mom and I opposed; no offense."

"It's fine. It is better to make kids laugh," Randall admitted. "But it was a really nice school."

"I bet it was expensive."

"It was," he said. "I did earn a few scholarships, but my mother did set me up for the most part. We're a pretty wealthy family."

"Yeah, right."

"I was. Still am, but I know how to manage my fortunes, you know. How do you think I paid off my apartment when I came back?"

"Shoot, and all this time I thought you were just a regular guy. Now I find out you're a rich guy? I didn't know this." Vanessie joked.

"I didn't think it was important." he said.

"Well, that's humility for you." she said as she lifted her mug. "That's alright, it isn't. But umm..." she thought, then laughed. "If it were, I have my eyes on high quality pencils at a local art store..."

"Oh, Van,"

"I'm just kidding." she giggled again.

"I knew you were." he smiled.

"It's a shame your father wasn't part of your life." she said.

"Yeah," Randall said with a sigh. "He only wanted to marry my mother for her money. Once he found out that my mother was having us, he just left. So it was just me, my brother Ned and mom. But she was always there. She was kind of like you describe your mother."

"Aww, that's good." she said. "So you have a brother named Ned?"

"Yeah, he's the oldest. He's not my color; he's green." Randall said, then grinned. "We were best pals. We really got along fine. He really gave me the influence of going to college. My mom, yeah, but Ned encouraged me more. I haven't talked to him in a log while..."

"Oh, you should contact him." she said. "He sounds like a nice guy."

"He really is. He was the optimistic one. He gave me hope for getting accepted to MU, so he's a great role model to me."

"Aww, how sweet."

"Yeah, he was my only best friend. If it hadn't been for him being my brother, I would've been miserable. He was so reliable. But now he has his own life and all."

"Phone him sometime. I'd like to meet him, too." Vanessie smirked.

"He'd like you. He's very likeable. But maybe I will call him sometime. It's been a long while. Plus, I bet he doesn't know about me disappearing for months. He lives quite far."

"Awesome." she said heartily.

Randall took note that he also loved Vanessie's cheerfulness. It made things lighter.

"But for now," Randall said, trying hard to think how to say it naturally. "I can say that you're my new role model."

"Really?" Vanessie blinked in a surprised manner.

He nodded.

"How? I mean—"

"Your persistence. Your now hopeful nature. The way you care for the littlest creatures. You did all that... Because you know it has a purpose and you love doing it. I never was acquainted by that before."

"Randy, it seems that you're putting me on a pedestal," Vanessie said with a breathy sigh. "I have my flaws."

"I have mine, too. Yet you still value me."

Vanessie giggled softly behind her mug again. "I know. I just don't like being on the spot. I'm not that special."

"You deserve to be on the spot." Randall said seriously before he took another sip of coffee. "Don't downgrade yourself, Van. I'm sure Nessie would say the same."

"She would." Vanessie said, then looked up to his eyes. "Thanks."

Randall couldn't lie to those eyes at all. He knew he said the truth to her, but not all of it. But he didn't want her to think slightly low of herself. He valued her so much, he wanted her to value herself. Besides, she helped him see that.

"You're welcome."

Vanessie had a great time in her second job with Randy. She appreciated the fact that he accepts her company since she hardly had any friends since a long time. As she drank her coffee, many times she was distracted by his emerald green eyes. This happened as they talked and Randy waited a few seconds for Vanessie's reply. Vanessie's only excuse for that was, "Sorry, I went blank."

But she just couldn't resist his eyes at all. She found them serene, vibrant and just drop-dead beautiful. She also thought of them like windows to his soul, now seemingly calm and patient, just like how he wanted to be. She was very proud of him and the great progress he made. She smiled warmly as she looked at Randy talk to her in that comfortable way. It's like he knew that she wouldn't judge him for anything now. And because of that, she was so comfortable around him. Why else would she invite him over to the café?

Still, she regretted for calling him her friend. She wasn't oblivious of what she was feeling. She knew it every time she stared into his eyes. She knew it those times she saw him making those kids laugh but she only regarded it as a crush and nothing more. Even though reasons were hard to think of, she didn't think they would be compatible. Besides, she didn't want to feel weird to have a relationship with her own partner... But she did fantasize about it, especially after feeling Randy's hand curled into hers. Even though he's a reptile, his hand did feel warm and lively. She wanted to feel that again. She shook it off. She was thinking all that while starting into Randy's enticing eyes again. "Sorry, I went blank again."

"It's fine," Randall replied with a grin.

There was that grin again, making her giggle.

"What?"

"Nothing. You just look silly with that grin," Vanessie said behind her mug.

"Silly? I'm silly with human children, but not in this world." Randall chuckled.

"Callaté, moradito." she giggled.

That whole time, the two talked and laughed, having a swell time together. Vanessie didn't want it to end. She wanted the moment to last longer.

When it was close for Vanessie to punch out, she said goodbye to her boss and escorted Randy to the door with her. But again, he showed his chivalry by opening the door for her, something so simple yet she valued so much in him. She accepted the action, blushing a bit at his considerable and generous gesture.

He offered to walk her home and she agreed. Feeling gracious for his protective nature over her.

When they made it to the apartment building, they walked up the steps to the entrance, where they both stopped.

"Randy, thank you for coming with me," she said happily. "It was very fun. We should do it again sometime."

"Yeah," Randy said with a smile. "We should."

Vanessie then wrapped her arms around Randy's neck and hugged him. She felt him jerk slightly, but she gave him an encouraging soft grip and felt his four arms wrap around her. The "friendly" hug was just an excuse to feel his arms around her again. She then recalled when she first hugged him and how secure it felt. So warm and comforting. She just wanted to feel that again. She was sure he wanted to as well.

To not make things weird, she unlocked her arms, him following her action. She sighed before she said with a half-smile, "Goodnight, Randy."

"Goodnight, Vanessie. See you tomorrow?"

"See you tomorrow," she said.

Then she saw him walk home, in that slow but organized way he walked with those four legs of his and stood there until he was well out of sight.

She took a deep breath as she went inside the apartment complex and made her way to her room.

Her batcat greeted her with a long wail and rubbed against her leg affectionately. Vanessie laughed lightly in amusement of her silly fluff-ball and took a long warm shower. The warmth made her drowsy and vowed once she got out, she'll go to bed. She dried herself and slipped into bed, letting out a soft purr at the comfort and soft warmth of the blankets over her and had Randy in her thoughts before she fell asleep.

It was midnight when she had a dream of herself sleeping and someone curled in with her and held her tightly... Something with four arms wrapped around her carefully and affectionately and she purred at the touch. She woke up with a jump and only saw Chimmy lying next to her and nothing more.

The kitten mewed curiously at her owner.

"I don't know what happened..." was all she replied before she tried to sleep again.


	10. Chapter 9

Winds of Change-A Monsters, Inc. fanfic

Chapter 9

It was already a month in after that night. Since then, Randall was reminded of how much he was in love with Vanessie but strained himself from becoming a fool in front of her. He watched her through the monitor on Fridays when Vanessie had her turn to be with her favorite human, Alani. Every Saturday, Randall accompanied Vanessie in her second job every Saturday of that past month and enjoyed the outings with her. It was no different for Vanessie. But every time, he forgot to contact his brother Ned. Every week, Vanessie would remind him once to call him sometime, he would end up forgetting about it.

After a day of hanging out with Vanessie at the café after work once more, he went straight to the phone and dialed the number with a bit of hesitation. But he did it anyway and listened to the phone ring on the other end. Then it picked up.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Ned."

"... Who is this?"

"Take a guess"

There was silence in the receiver before it muttered. "Randy?"

"Hey, bro."

"Randy! Wow! Has it really been that long?"

"I'm afraid it has."

"It's great to hear you! How are you? What took you so long?"

"Ah..." Randall said, rubbing his neck in an unsure fashion. "I was gone... For a few months... In the Human World."

"What? What were you doing there?"

"It's a long—no, a really long story."

"Did you sneak to Hawaii? I heard the humans love it there, all tropical-like and all."

"No, I was in a bayou... In Louisiana."

"You have an odd taste in traveling, Randy."

"Like I said, it's a long story. To make it short, I was banished for a while, but I came back a month and a half ago. Don't worry, I'm alright. I did get a gash on my face, but it's clearing up about now."

"Jeez, and where was I in all this?" Ned laughed on his end. "Whoa, man, what did you do?"

"Oh, many things I regret doing... But now things are going great. I made a friend."

"Oh? Someone replaced me or what?"

"Not exactly..."

"What is it, Randy? I know you're hiding something; spit it out."

Randall scoffed and rubbed his eyes in annoyance. As much as he loved his brother, Ned always wanted to know things Randall wouldn't utter. It's like Ned knew things as if he were a psychic. He's been doing that since they were kids. Then he worked up the nerve to speak, "I'm in love with her."

There was silence in the receiver.

"Ned?"

"You're joking right?"

"I'm not. I'm serious."

"Now, I know I have to come. Who's the girl?" Ned's voice asked with eagerness.

"You won't believe it. It's Nessie's daughter."

"You landed on Nessie's little girl? Remember when we used to have crushes on Nessie?"

Randall chuckled. "That... Was a long time ago, Ned."

"And now you have your eyes on her daughter. I envy you, little bro."

"I know. But it's not like that. I've had eyes on her person. Everything else was after..."

"That's good, bro. Gosh, I want to hear all about that."

"Umm, we haven't hung our in a while, so you think you can come over sometime? That way you could hear about that."

"Oh, yeah, I have nothing planned next week, so I can come over." Ned's cheerful voice said. "Wow, it's been a long while since you've looked forward to seeing me."

Then Randall recalled his old self, and how he used to treat his older brother when he used to visit often. Ned didn't visit again after Randall told him to "buzz off" when he was so busy with the Scream Extractor at the time and didn't have or want time with Ned. Fortunately, his brother respected his request and didn't contact him at all after that. He shuddered thinking about that moment, but it faded away after knowing that he wasn't that monster anymore. He smiled then.

"Yeah, it has."

"I bet things ARE going well for you." Ned said in a sincere voice. "I'm glad you want us to meet again. I've been concerned for you, but... I remember what you told me."

Randall felt like tearing up after hearing that. He felt bad for doing that, but he composed himself and said, "Don't worry, Ned, that's pulled aside. It's different now."

"Great," he heard his brother say sincerely. "I can't wait to see you again."

"You, too."

"So you finally called your brother?" Vanessie asked.

It was an early morning at work the next day, Friday, and Vanessie was told that Randall finally contacted his brother.

"Yeah, I did. We're planning to meet again." Randall said with a calm smile.

"That's great!" Vanessie said. "It's very great that you're repairing your roots with him."

Randall chuckled and looked at her. "He wants to meet you, too."

Vanessie was taken aback. Then curiosity overtook her. "Why?"

"Well," Randall paused, thinking. "I told him about you."

"Good things, I hope?" Vanessie asked with a playful glance.

Randall chuckled again. They told Ned things about her that could be considered more than good. But he couldn't openly say that. Instead, he said in a playful tone back, "More or less."

Vanessie giggled. Randall savored the sound of it.

Most of the day, Randall went ahead and made more kids laugh, now feeling more confident and comfortable doing his job with ease. Vanessie sat outside, again watching her partner make those kids smile, her beaming at his actions.

Then came the time when Vanessie had enough time to be with her human.

"Man, I miss Alani already, I can't wait to see how she's doing." Vanessie said happily.

"It's only been a week," Randall said.

"I know, but," Vanessie said. "She's just so sweet."

Randall set up the door for Vanessie and did it with contentment. Once the door was landed and secured, Vanessie listened as she placed her flipper-ear to the door. Her smile turned to a frown then. "Oh, no."

Randall turned his head as soon as he heard her comment and approached her slowly not to startle her. "What's wrong?"

She shushed him politely and listened closer. "I don't know," she whispered. 'Let me see..."

She slowly opened the door and slipped inside. Randall then heard Vanessie's voice through the earpiece and quickly went to the desk to see what happened and watched.

As soon as Vanessie went inside the child's room, her heart broke. On the small bed lies the little girl, crying silently. It was worse than wailing or loud crying, Vanessie thought. She was keeping something to herself, wanting to express it to someone but didn't have any person to tell it all to. She knew, for she experienced that kind of secluded pain.

All she saw was the girl flat on the bed, her face buried in her pillow, with only small sniffles to be heard. Vanessie knew that Alani noticed her come in. But it seems that she was embarrassed, not wanting her to see her this way. For a five-year-old, she surprised Vanessie so much, how smart she was.

She stepped carefully to the girl's bed, bend down to her feet and reached her arm out, her hand touching the girl's back. She was so small, she could be easily mistaken for a toddler. Vanessie proceeded and rubbed Alani's back comfortingly. The girl stirred and lifted her head slowly. Her brows furrowed when she saw Alani's eyes very glossy and raining tears.

"Vanessie." she mumbled under her tears.

"Aww, baby," Vanessie said in a concerned and motherly voice. Her voice cracked as did her heart. "What happened?"

Alani sniffled and rubbed her nose. Vanessie noticed how pink her face was. She pulled a corner of the girl's comforter and leaned over to rub the tears off her cheeks delicately.

"Huh?" Vanessie said softly as she cleaned the child's face. "Why are you sad?"

"My parents," she said in an inaudible voice, her throat tight. "They're... Splitting up."

"Oh..." Vanessie sighed, stroking her finger gently on Alani's cheek. "I'm so sorry."

"I don't get it," Alani said, wiping her nose again. "They used to be happy. And now... They fight all the time."

Vanessie climbed onto Alani's bed on impulse and, as if the girl responded to the loch Nessie's action, Alani sat on Vanessie's lap and buried her face into her chest, whimpering as more tears flowed. Vanessie ran her black fingers through Alani's soft, short hair slowly, breathing deeply and thought how she could make light of this situation.

"I think it's because of me."

At that, Vanessie felt a slight shudder down her back and felt her heart break again. She rocked the little girl in her arms and shushed her softly.

"No, no, no, no..." she said as she consoled her softly, allowing Alani to let her tears flow. "Shhh shh shh shh..."

Vanessie held her tightly against her, feeling almost maternal to the girl, as if she were her own. "No, no, no..." she continued, fading to a whisper. "No llores. Don't cry."

She looked down to see the girl quiver in her arms and she held her tighter with a sigh, then saying, "At least you have parents..."

She heard a sniff and felt Alani lift her head, looking up at her. "You don't have any?"

Vanessie shook her head, brushing Alani's messy bangs away from her face. She wiped away her tears again, disliking seeing her this way. She never liked seeing children cry. It always breaks her heart to millions of pieces.

"I used to... But they were taken from me."

"From what?"

Vanessie was put in a corner, she didn't know any other way to explain it other than the truth. But Alani was just a little girl. She wouldn't understand, but she didn't understand her parents' situation either. Still, Vanessie didn't want to make it worse for her. Besides, she didn't know what took her parents either.

"I don't know." Vanessie said. "But I will understand soon... Like you will."

Alani sniffed a bit and Vanessie let her rest on her chest again. Vanessie then said in her soft voice, "Baby, just because your parents are splitting up, that doesn't mean it's your fault. It's not your fault at all." she stroked Alani's hair some more. "Grown ups have weird ways of solving problems... They don't communicate. They don't fix problems... And instead find the easy way out."

"Are they all like that? Will I be like that when I'm grown up?" she whimpered.

"Oh, sweetheart," Vanessie said. "I wish I could tell you you won't be... But that's up to you."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean," Vanessie tried to think of how to explain it in a way a five-year-old like Alani could understand. "It's your choice of who you want to be. You're very young now, but in the future, there'll be many things for you to think about. Things will influence you, maybe change the way you think, but there are many decisions to make when you grow older. It's just up to you to choose the wisest decision." Vanessie explained, then noticed a puzzled look on Alani's face and sucked in her breath. Then she beamed at an idea. "Let me tell you a story."

"A story?"

"Yeah," Vanessie smiled warmly. "Here, lie down, and I'll tell it to you."

Alani let go of Vanessie and got herself into her blankets with Vanessie's help of tucking her in until she felt that she was comfortable enough to listen. Vanessie slid off the bed and sat on her knees on the floor, leaning against the side of the bed so she could face the girl.

"Alright, I know this guy," Vanessie smirked with a smug expression, as if sending a message to someone. "Who was REALLY mean."

As soon as Randall heard that, he knew that Vanessie was for sure talking about him. He squinted his eyes and rolled them in annoyance as he heard Vanessie. He then listened for more.

"He had purple scaly skin, nasty green eyes and sharp teeth. When he spoke, it was like a bark of a big dog." Vanessie said, still smirking. "He had ugly bags in his eyes and also eight limbs, like a lizard-spider."

"I don't get this story." Alani said, confused.

"I'm getting to my point," Vanessie smiled. "I'm getting there, okay?"

"Well, long story short, he did many things... Many things that were bad that he didn't think we're bad. He was just trying to do something for society that took his sleep, which was what made him cranky. Then he had to face the consequences of what he did and was banished for it away from his home." Vanessie's voice and expression softened then. "And he wanted to start all over. So he chose to try to get back home, and he did. It was very hard for him to turn things around. He didn't know how to change his ways. How to adjust, how to be better."

"How do you know him?" Alani asked.

"Because I work with him." Vanessie answered softly. "We had fights for a month. He was mean and nasty with me, and it was until he went off the deep end that... He realized that he wasn't really being a better person after he hurt my feelings."

"What did he do?"

"Something stupid—"

"Stupid's a bad word."

Vanessie giggled at the girl's innocence and found it cute. "Okay, something super-dumb." she said with a light laugh. "He broke a photo of my parents."

"And he knew that they were gone?"

"Yeah," Vanessie nodded. "He did. He also knew how much I looked up to my mom. But you know what? When he could've still been mean to me... He came to me the next day to apologize."

"He did?"

"Mmm hmm." Vanessie nodded. "Then we became friends after that. Now we talk to each other a lot, we go out a lot, he even helped me out with my house."

"Really? And that is the same scary-looking guy you said in the beginning?" Alani asked in a surprised expression.

"Yeah, and the thing is... He doesn't seem so scary anymore. It's as if... This was how he was supposed to be like this whole time. Like I said, many things happened to him to make him mean and scary, but then he made the choice to change that for the better... Because he knew that he would feel better, too."

Randall smiled outside the door, admiring the way Vanessie used the both of them to help this girl out. He watched the way Vanessie's face looked when she talked about him and how animated she was, the way she was maternal and tender to the child and how she could make her feel better, like she did with him. Then he was partly sad that Vanessie didn't mention to the girl that she inspired him to make the change for the better, but he was otherwise happy to hear the "story".

"If he's not scary now, then what's he like?" Alani asked, now smiling. Vanessie's heart warmed at the sight of a child's smile. Seeing the plump cheeks and huge, expressive and curious eyes.

"What's he like now?" she laughed breathily again. She knew that if she were to say any sweet words about Randall, he would hear for sure. Her heart beat at a bit of a quick pace when she said with a smile, "He... He's the nicest guy I've ever known now. He helped me to let go a little bit of my grief of my parents. He's very funny and sassy, and he makes me laugh. He's very considerate and he thinks about things before he takes action and does it. He supports me and helps me out."

"What's your favorite thing about him now?" the girl said, her eyes drooping slowly and heavily.

Vanessie then thought of Randall's eyes right away. She thought of those beautiful and vibrant pools of emerald-green. She loved staring at them and wished she would if she could. They reminded her of how much she was in love with him because when she looks into his eyes, she could see his soul, now warmer and cleaner than before. She loved this new Randall and was happy she was onside for shaping him to who he really is. She sighed.

"His eyes. By far, his eyes. I don't know if anyone's told him anything about his eyes... But I can say that they are the closest thing to looking at the most perfect picture I've ever seen. To me, they're more vibrant than the sun... And more lovely than the greenest grass."

Randall felt a flush through his chest and was taken slightly aback by her description of his eyes. No one besides his mother ever told him about his eyes. He used to hate his eye color since he was very small, thinking it looked dirty, gross and evil. But hearing Vanessie talk so highly about his eyes made him feel better about his eye color. Perhaps they are that lovely. He blushed.

"That's good," Alani said before she let out a long yawn. "I think I'll be okay, Vanessie."

"Aw," Vanessie said. She leaned over to kiss Alani on her forehead and shushed her softly.

"Goodnight." Alani whispered.

"Goodnight, sweetie." Vanessie whispered back. She stroked the girl's hair slowly as she stared at the child drift off to sleep peacefully. She noted how doll-like she looked. So porcelain-looking and pure. So soft and warm she was as she slept. She figured she looked like this to her mother when she was that age, with her mother doing the same thing she's doing; watching her quietly as she slept, thinking how much of a blessing she was to her. She smiled at sighed at the memory as she lightly brushed her black fingers over Alani's cheek.

Five minutes passed after Randall figured that the little girl officially fell asleep, and was left wondering when Vanessie was going to be done and come back to their world. He stared at the same still screen for that long, watching Vanessie be some kind of guardian to her. He stood up then and walked over to the door to let her know that it's getting a bit late, since they were probably the only employees left in the building since twenty minutes ago. He just wanted to let her know; if she wanted to stay longer, he wouldn't stop her and wait for her.

He held onto the doorknob and became cautious of making no noise as he turned it slowly and steadily. He pushed the door gently without making a creak and snuck in when the door was open enough for him to fit inside.

Vanessie looked up and turned her hear at him at the soft sound of his footsteps and softly shushed him and made a gesture to have him come over there. He obeyed and came quietly.

"You're taking a bit long." Randall whispered.

Vanessie chuckled softly. "Sorry."

"It's alright."

Vanessie turned back to the child and Randall saw up close her expression as she stared. It was caring and somewhat happy.

"Look at her," Vanessie whispered. "She's so small."

Randall looked. She was indeed small. She looked like she were three years old than five. "Yeah,"

"I can't imagine how she would feel if anything else serious came to her. She's just a child, she can't understand what's going on." Vanessie said.

"It's a good thing you're there for her." Randall said.

"Yeah, it seems her parents are not so good at being with her. I mean, I'm not seeking in being her mother, but... She has to be informed about times like this. It's like her parents are not responsible enough for what they do."

"What would you do?"

She turned to face him again. "If I had a kid?"

"That is, if you wanted one."

Vanessie paused for a short while before she breathed and said, "Of course I want one. Someday. And I would love it and dedicate my life to it. I would teach it lessons in life. Tell the realities of life so they wouldn't be surprised of what they find. Parents nowadays... They tell lies to their kids constantly. I see it now, I see it in the way Alani was confused with what was happening."

"I think you'd be a good mother." Randall said. "You treat her so much as if she were your daughter."

"I wish." she laughed lightly. "She will face tougher things now. Like I said, I won't try to be her mother... But moments like this make me want to."

"You'll have your time someday." Randall said in a quiet but hopeful voice.

The girl stirred in her sleep and turned to the side. Vanessie faced Randall again and whispered to him, "We should go now."

Randall walked over to the door and waited for her to follow. He turned to see Vanessie give the little girl a kiss goodbye on her cheek. She finally walked over to Randall and nodded to go already. He turned the knob and they quietly slipped out.

"Thanks for letting me take my time," Vanessie said. "I apologize for taking long, though."

"It's no problem," Randall said lowly, not wanting to feel awkward if he spoke loudly in the huge open floor. "You could've stayed longer if you wanted to; I'd still wait."

"You didn't have to wait for me,"

"I wouldn't want you going off on your own."

"Yeah?" Vanessie asked with a small laugh as she gathered her paperwork.

Randall nodded. "I just like knowing you're safe."

He saw Vanessie turn around and straighten her stack of paperwork, which was organized and straightened already.

"Anyway," Randall said. "I appreciated you using me to soothe the little girl. I'm thinking she understood your point of adults making stupid or wise decisions."

"I hope she did," Vanessie said, smiling faintly.

"I also appreciate you liking my eyes."

Vanessie stopped and looked at him.

"I know it's something random to thank you for... But it does mean a lot." he said calmly.

She laughed. "You're welcome."

"Did you really mean what you said?" Randall asked. "About my eyes being more vibrant than the sun?"

She brushed away her red hair from her eyes, but she smiled, so he didnt make her too nervous at least. "Yeah. I envy your eyes. Mine are very plain."

"They remind me of chocolate." he blurted.

"What?" Vanessie smirked.

"Your eyes. They remind me of chocolate." Randall realized how stupid he sounded.

"Umm... Okay." she giggled.

'She can flatter me so easily, yet I can't even do the same to her,' he thought. how could he top her "vibrant as the sun" comparison? As "chocolate"? 'I must sound like an idiot.'

Randall then walked Vanessie to drop off the paperwork and out the door.

"Say hi to your cat for me." Randall said.

"I'm sure she'll like that." Vanessie said.

Then a moment passed like an eternity when they both stared at each other inaudibly.

Vanessie looked at Randall's eyes one last time that evening, watching the perfect combination of his green irises and the pinkish-orange sunset beside them. She wished she could find the secret of how those eyes could look so gorgeous.

Randall stared into her eyes as well, her chocolate eyes now gold-looking in the sunset's light and her soft-looking porpoise skin gleaming warm green. Her hair—beautiful vibrant red like always.

But Vanessie was the one to break from the trance, brushing her bangs away from her face from the soft wind.

"Well, I gotta go," Vanessie said. "Let me know when your brother comes. We should hang out."

"I'll look forward to that." Randall said, smiling a sad smile.

After Vanessie went on her way, Randall went to his. It wasn't the moment that he was mildly upset about; it was the fact that he couldn't think of anything to describe her brown eyes.


	11. Chapter 10

Winds of Change-A Monsters, Inc. fanfic

Chapter 10

A week later, Randall was drinking a cup of coffee on Saturday until he heard a knock on the door. He set down his mug and waddled over to the door. After he opened it, his neutral frown turned up.

"Ned!"

"Randy!"

Ned looked about the same. He looked just like Randall, but more happy-looking. His skin was light green and the tips of his fronds were orange as well as his tail. He never seemed to change.

They embraced as soon as they saw each other. "Wow, it's been so long." Ned said happily.

"Yeah," Randall sniffed. "It has."

"Randy," Ned said. "Little bro, are you crying?"

Randall sniffed again. "No,"

"Don't lie to me, Little Randy." Ned said as he let go of Randall to look at him.

Randall blinked his eyes to force back his tears when he faced Ned and let out a chuckle. "I guess I am. But it has been quite a long while."

"Aww, Randy," Ned said as he hugged him again.

"Come in," Randall said as he directed his brother into his apartment. As Ned walked in, he smiled looking around the interior.

"Wow," he said. "It looks cleaner than the last time I came."

"You think so?"

"Yeah," Ned scoffed jokingly. "Before, this apartment used to be dusty; you hardly used it."

"Yeah," Randall nodded with an unsure smile. "It was work that consumed me. Which is what I should tell you."

"Let's sit down and you tell me what's been going on." Ned said. "I smell coffee; you got coffee?"

"Why would I not?" Randall said and poured a cup for his brother and refilled his own.

Then they sat on Randall's couch and he told Ned all that's happened since he told him not to come to visit him again. He told him about the secret project he was working on, which was the reason why he became so edgy and nasty. He told him about the countless hours he spent every night working on the damned Scream Extractor machine and how he wanted to test it on one of the children he scared regularly. He told everything up to the point where he came back from exile months later. Ned always listened intently and asked very few questions here and there, but otherwise was so polite enough not to interrupt his story Randall was telling his brother.

Then he began talking about Vanessie, up to where they made up with each other.

"Wow," Ned said with a smirk. "She must be very humble, considering she forgave you."

"She was. I even told her that she didn't have to forgive me, but she opened up and told me her problems and how she wanted to fix them. So we found that we were both victims of a troubled past."

"I see," Ned nodded. "So this Vanessie is the one you have eyes for."

"Yeah," Randall said with a sad sigh.

"Something wrong?" Ned asked, his expression now concerned.

Randall touched where his scar still lay under his eye, but almost out of sight, and remembered Vanessie's gentle touch there. "I might've sounded like an idiot to her."

"Why? What happened?"

"Vanessie's very poetic," Randall said. "Yesterday, while she was taking care of her human, she told the girl a story about me, and she described me."

"What'd she say?"

He remembered the words by heart. "She thought that 'they are the closest thing to looking at the most perfect picture I've ever seen. To me, they're more vibrant than the sun... And more lovely than the greenest grass.'"

"And what's wrong with that? She thinks your eyes are great. We both got mom's gorgeous eyes." Ned chuckled.

"Nothing. Nothing's wrong with that." Randall said. "She made me feel better about my eyes. You know how much I used to hate them."

"Oh, yeah," Ned said, then laughed. "You used to say as a kid that you didn't like the color because it reminded you of snot."

"Ned, I'm serious."

"Oh, yeah, I forgot. You're the serious brother. Sorry, I got carried away. So what is bothering you about her compliment, then?"

Randall sighed before he admitted. "I couldn't think of anything to say about her eyes... Of her, for that matter."

"That's what you're fussing about?"

"Ned," Randall said. "I wanted to say something to her. But... She makes me so nervous."

"Yeah, you were never the most expressive person I know." Ned said before he took a sip of his coffee. "But hey, you do love this girl. Maybe soon you'll have the courage to think of something clever to compliment her. I'm sure she's the patient kind."

"She is," Randall said with a deep breath. "I could talk to her so easily... I love how she just listens to me and helps me understand things..."

"Yeah, you are in love," Ned grinned. "Do you know if... Y'know, she feels the same?"

Randall then thought about it. He thought so according to how many times he's seen her do her nervous habits around him. She did so a few times to a few co-workers, given how shy she still was, but she mostly did them in front of Randall only. Also the way she spoke, she did a certain way to Randall. She spoke so casually to other co-workers, but with him, she was more heartfelt in some way, like she wanted to talk to him about something that she knew she couldn't to the others. But then he remembered the time the last week when it was Vanessie who broke the trance they both had when they stared at each other. She did say that she loved his eyes, but that was just one subject.

"I'm not sure. Sometimes I think she does, but sometimes I think she doesn't." Randall says. "She does her nervous habit around me a lot, though."

"What's the nervous habit?"

"Anything with her hair." Randall said, faintly smiling. "She would twirl a strand of her bangs on her finger, push her bangs away from her face, all that jazz."

"So she constantly does that nervous habit around you?" Ned asked. "I think she is crushing on you."

"But that's about the nervous thing she does. Besides that, there's nothing else that tells me that she could have feelings for me, too." Randall said. "I mean, I'm not sure if she could tell, but I believe she has, that I sometimes talk awkwardly around her, especially when we talk about something... Y'know, personal."

"I don't think she could be THAT oblivious." Ned chuckled. "How about this: I'll evaluate you two."

"You're saying that as an excuse to meet her, are you?"

"Maybe, but you also want your brother's opinion on something like this?" Ned grinned.

"I guess." Randall mused. "But you better not embarrass me."

"Randy, I've never embarrassed you before. Besides, I know how much you're concerned for this girl, so don't worry about it." Ned said reassuringly.

"Thanks." Randall said, smiling again.

A minute passed in silence when Ned only stared at his little brother. Randall tried to ignore him by not looking at him, but then caught his gaze, asking, "What?"

"Call her up, Randy." Ned said urgently. "You promised me I'd meet her and I'm here already. You're not scared, are you?"

"For once I am."

Vanessie came back from her brief walk to her mailbox in the apartment complex and was flipping through her envelopes when she heard a mew as she opened her door.

"Chimmy, shhh." she said looking down. "You're not supposed to be here, so keep quiet."

"Mrrroooow..." the kitten mewed in a whining fashion.

"Baby, I already gave you your food and water. What else do you want?" she asked, closing the door behind her and setting her envelopes on her table.

The cat mewed as she rubbed herself against Vanessie's legs.

"You want mommy, huh?"

"Mow." Chimmy mewed looking up to Vanessie with her large yellow-green eyes.

"Okay, if I pet you, will you keep quiet?"

Chimmy didn't answer. Instead, she walked away from Vanessie's legs to the sun-spilled carpet next to the windows and flopped down on the floor, stretching and looking at her owner as if saying, "I'm waiting."

"Hija de su madre." Vanessie muttered with an airy laugh and bent down to pet her baby's fuzzy belly.

The batcat stretched in pleasure and mewed, making Vanessie giggle. Chimmy flipped the other side and pleadingly lifted her paws to her face and dilating her pupils, making herself look irresistibly cute.

"¿Quién es mí floja?" Vanessie asked.

"Mow." Chimmy replied, flipping over again like a pancake.

"Look at you," Vanessie pet Chimmy's tummy again. "So lazy. You don't have to worry about anything but eating and sleeping. I wish I were you."

"Mow," Chimmy mewed, then smirked at her owner, stretching happily.

"Mira, que malosa." the loch ness laughed. "You better not get me in trouble. If the landlord sees you, you won't have this carpet to sleep on."

"Mow."

"Meh, you don't care. You're just a baby AND a cat. What do you have to worry about?"

Just then, Vanessie's phone rang. Both she and Chimmy looked up at the sound.

"Mew." Chimmy said, as if imploring her owner not to answer and focus her attention on her.

"Chimmy, it could be Randy. I can't ignore him." Vanessie smiled. "Not everything's about you."

At that, the kitten got up and stubbornly walked away with a snooty attitude of her back legs like a lady who got rejected. Vanessie giggled at her cat and got up to run to the phone and picked it up.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Van."

Vanessie laughed softly. She loved to hear Randall's voice. "Hi, Randy. What's new?"

"Well, my brother came,"

"Oh, he did?" Vanessie said contently. "That's great! How are you two?"

"We're doing great, thanks. Catching up on a lot here."

"That's good." she smiled.

"Listen, Ned wants to meet you. You think the three of us could go to Hidden City in the afternoon?"

"Oh, yeah, sure!" Vanessie said, twirling a strand of her bangs in her finger daintily. "At six?"

"That sounds perfect."

"Can't wait." Vanessie said.

She then heard a light laugh from Randall, which made a warm feeling in her chest, making her giggle back. She didn't know why; anything Randall did made her laugh. It was probably his serious nature. She thought he should lighten up a bit, but she knew Randall was all about seriousness. She liked him that way.

"I guess I'll see you there then."

"And Ned, too."

She heard a brief silence, then, "Oh, yeah, of course. Ned."

She laughed again. "I'll see you two later. Bye."

"You, too. Bye."

When Vanessie hung up, she looked across the room behind her and saw Chimmy staring at her with her wide eyes, now jealous.

"What do you think, Chimmy? You think he likes me?"

The batcat simply trotted to the sun-warm carpet again and flopped down on top of it.

"Ah, yes," Vanessie rolled her eyes. "'I don't care, just pay attention to me, mommy.'"

"Mow," Chimmy replied, flipping over her other side.

"What'd she say?" Ned asked, elbowing his younger brother.

"Yeah, we're meeting at Hidden City Café." Randall told him. "Did I sound like an idiot?"

"Oh, Randy, you put yourself down too much." Ned patted Randall's back. "You sounded clumsy, but definitely not an idiot."

Randall liked how honest his brother is. Also how reassuring he is as well. "You sure?"

"Yeah," Ned said with a smile. "Besides, did you just hear her? She laughed, and not the kind of laugh like she's making fun of you, but one that implies that she likes your clumsy chatter."

He never thought about that. He probably did put himself down too much. Maybe he does have to be a bit more lighthearted. He then remembered Vanessie's laugh through the phone. He smiled.

"Thanks, Ned."

"Now, that was just the phone call I evaluated," Ned said. "Let's just see when you're with her. Now, THAT ought to be good."

"You want to be so entertained, are you?"

"Will it be that entertaining?" Ned joked.

Randall chucked. "How do you know so much about girls?"

"Because they liked me better." Ned smirked. "I could see it, but they never told me."

"They told me."

"Really?"

"Yeah. In middle AND high school. They always asked me about you."

"Oh, did they? And why didn't you tell me?"

"And give away my big brother? No way." Randall grinned.

"You son of a gun."

Randall chuckled again.

"Well, maybe this time, this girl has it for you. And I AM willing to give away my brother to her, being the more mature one." Ned said pridefully.

"Yeah. Says the guy who openly said how 'sexy hot' Vanessie's mom was."

"Now, you agreed with me at that time. We were kids and we were immature then."

"But you said it. I only agreed so you wouldn't be alone."

"You still agreed in the end."

"You can still crush on Nessie, cause I got her daughter." Randall joked.

Vanessie arrived at the café, with a leather jacket and a fedora along with her bag she brought along with her, a few minutes before six and told her boss that she was expecting visitors. She stepped outside to sit on the tables on the outside, preferring the calm winter breeze. It was a little chilly, but the warm sun made up for it and thought it was quite perfect for a winter day.

To wait for Randall and his brother to come, she took out her sketchpad and a 6B pencil and tapped her chin with her pencil as she contemplated what to draw.

With nothing in mind, she began drawing a circle lightly. Then she drew another one beside it. Then she decided to draw Randall and tried to remember his notable features. She went on to draw his face and his jaw, then his long neck. She proceeded to put more detail to his face, like his fronds, his eyes and more emphasis on his scales.

Then she couldn't help it; she took out a green colored pencil, eager to color in Randall's hypnotizing yet beautiful green eyes. She treated the eyes with care, paying attention to the detail and shading of his eyes, wanting to make them at least close to the real thing. But she knew she could never get close. She finished, feeling a bit satisfied, but she would give anything to see the real gems. Looking at the drawing was not the same as seeing Randall himself. She always felt a strong spark when she looked into his gleaming eyes, and was once again eager to see him again, even though they did work together the day before.

She was stroking the jawline of her sketch of Randall thoughtfully until she heard a voice call her name.

She looked up and saw Randall and a person looking so much like him beside him. They were coming her way. She tried acting casual as she ripped the sketch off the peripherated lines, put it underneath all the empty pages to hide it, closed it and slipped it into her bag slowly so they wouldn't think she was hiding something. She knew if she did all that quickly, they would suspect something.

She smiled as they came nearer and fixed her bangs. "Hey, Randy."

"Hi, Van." Randall said with a kind smile. "Oh, here's my brother, Ned. Ned, this is my assistant at work, Vanessie."

Vanessie swore that Randall and Ned could be twins if the latter had purple skin like the former, but she guessed they were about a year apart. He also had Randall's green eyes, but they didn't have the same spark as Randall's. But he was nice-looking, nonetheless.

"Hi, pleasure to meet you." Ned said as he stretched out one of his arms to Vanessie with a joyful smile.

"Nice to meet you, too." Vanessie greeted, returning his handshake, smiling back. "Gosh, Randy, he looks just like you."

"Everyone says that," Randall chuckled.

"She called you Randy." Ned said, smirking. "You gave her permission to call you that, too?"

"Yeah, well..."

"Why? What's wrong with calling him Randy?" Vanessie asked curiously.

"Oh, he used to love being called Randy." Ned explained. "But then something happened in college and he didn't want to be called that anymore. But he let me call him that, at least. Very interesting to see he let you use it." he then smiled at his brother. "Very interesting, indeed."

Randall rolled his eyes. "It's not that big of a deal. She's good enough to call me that though."

Vanessie blinked thoughtfully, smiling at Randall. She saw him smiling back. Then she said, "Is there anything you guys want? Any coffee?"

"Oh, yeah, vanilla creamer for me," Ned said.

"Same." Randall said.

"Okay, just wait a second, alright? Make yourselves comfortable." Vanessie said before she stepped inside the café.

As soon as she stepped inside, her boss asked her, "Hey, Vane, I see a green look-a-like out there. I hope you know you only have to choose one."

"Callaté," Vanessie said, pouring coffee to two mugs. "Of course I'm choosing only one."

"I was only joking," Luis said, looking suspicious but still humorous. "I didn't know you liked one of them. Which one?"

Vanessie bit her lip, still smiling as she set aside the two mugs and poured herself hot water in another mug.

"Vane..."

"Chistoso." she giggled. "Alright, I give up. The purple one."

"I'm guessing so." Luis replied. "You two come here every Saturday."

Vanessie grinned.

Outside, Randall and Ned sat leisurely waiting for Vanessie to come out. It was a few seconds before Randall caught Ned smiling at him. He sighed.

"Ned, if you have something interesting to say, just say it. It bugs me when you look at me like that."

"I'm just thinking about how proud I am of my little brother." Ned beamed. "She looks JUST as lovely as Nessie."

"Maybe better."

"And she has red hair; is it dyed or...?"

"Yeah, she dyed it. I saw a photo of her as a kid and she had black hair before."

"That explains a lot." Ned said. "Well, so far, I did see her do that nervous habit you talked about. I also saw some nervous action from you, too, Lover-Boy."

"I let you call me Randy, Ned, but if you call me that again, you'll be sorry." Randall said, rolling his eyes.

"Gonna tell me to buzz off again?"

"You've become a jerk since we last met." Randall chuckled.

"You have something for him, do you?"

"Shut up." she shushed, looking back to see if Randall and Ned were still outside. "Don't butt into my life."

"I'll say that's a yes." Luis chuckled.

"Okay," Vanessie stirred her tea after she threw in some sugar and a tea packet, then moved on to put creamer in the two coffee mugs. "Yes, I do have feelings for him, but PLEASE keep it on the down low. I never felt this way in my life."

"I can see; you're being a bit... Unbalanced." Luis said, looking to where her hands were working.

Vanessie looked down and saw that she spilled a bit of creamer on the counter. "Ay, Mensa." She fetched a small towel and wiped it off and paid attention to pour the creamer carefully. "Is it that obvious?"

"Yeah, kinda."

"You think he'll notice?" she asked quietly.

Luis looked to where the two brothers sat outside, and saw that Randall was pretty content and talking with his brother. "If you keep that nervous habit, maybe, yeah."

"I don't know. I sometimes think that, you know, he may like me, too."

"Well, he seems like a good guy now. I was worried about you when I heard about him." Luis said. "I remember when he used to come here when he was younger; he was always very serious and impolite."

"Don't worry. He's doing much better now." Vanessie said. "And his brother's visiting. So it's nice of him to see family again."

"Yeah, nothing better than family." Luis smiled. "I think your mother would approve."

"I think so, too." she said, holding hers and Randall's mug in one hand and Ned's in the other. "Now, excuse me, I have to treat my guests."

"You do that."

Vanessie took the mugs and stepped outside, trying to be careful not to spill the hot contents.

"Okay, guys, here you go," she said as she headed the reptilian brothers their coffee mugs.

"Thanks, Van." Randall said, reaching for his.

"Thank you, Miss Vanessie." Ned beamed, getting his handed to him.

"You're welcome," Vanessie said. She sat back on her seat and sipped from her cup.

"What are you having?" Ned asked her. "Doesn't look like you treated yourself coffee."

"Oh, I have passion tea." Vanessie said, shrugging. "It tastes lovely and flowery."

"Oh, classy," Ned grinned at Randall. Randall glared at him.

"I drink coffee a lot, too, but today, I just wanted tea." she smiled. "So, you two are very close, huh?"

"Very," Ned said. "As kids, we couldn't stay apart."

"Awwww," Vanessie said, facing Randall with a tender look.

"Yeah, remember, Randy? When I helped you make a chocolate cake, and you cried when you burned it too much?" Ned laughed.

"The smoke got in my eyes, Ned." Randall said defensively.

"Aw, Randy, you cried?" Vanessie giggled.

"I was a child. I'm sure you cried as a kid when you screwed up something." Randall said, cooly drinking more of his coffee.

"Yeah, well, he begged me afterwards to have a little funeral for the cake." Ned said. "Of course, I let him do it and I attended it with him. We had a little ceremony and everything."

"How cute." Vanessie's lashes fluttered in fascination.

"There were many other moments we had, but I'll stop it there for Randy's sake." Ned said in a playfully disappointed manner.

"Oh, Randy," she said, punching the purple lizard on his arm.

"Ow," Randall said, chuckling a bit.

"So, you probably know enough about us, but how long have you two known each other?" Ned asked, his eyes interested.

"I think a little more than three months, yeah." Vanessie said, then she smiled. "Randy probably told you about our first month. It wasn't so hot, but after we made up, things went lighter. We became better."

"Oh, I'm sure." Ned said.

Randall only sat there, drinking his coffee and listening to the conversation going on between his brother and Vanessie. He liked that she enjoyed their company, and seeing her being so kind to his brother made him happy. He then felt proud of sharing his brother for once.

"Randy, ¿Porque estás calladito? Say something." Vanessie said to Randall.

"Sorry," Randall said. "It just nice to see you two get along, not like I thought you wouldn't. I didn't want to interrupt."

"Then what are you here for?" Vanessie said sweetly. "You should be a part of it, too."

Randall looked at Vanessie and saw the warmth in her smile. She really did want him to participate. Why not?

"Yeah, you shouldn't have seen us when we were hostile, Ned." Randall began. "Back and forth, we were making attacks at each other."

"Course, I'd be the one to piss him off with my sassiness." Vanessie giggled.

"Sassiness?" Ned asked.

"This girl is very stubborn." Randall began. "She had a way of being sly around me. When she thought she won a battle, she smirked."

"Did I win those battles?" Vanessie asked.

"I said when you THOUGHT you won one, did I?"

"I did win. You just don't want to admit it. But that's aside now. It's nice to know that we get along so well; we could've been this way since the beginning."

"Awesome," Ned said. "So, I've never heard that Nessie had a daughter. Wasn't really acquainted about current event very much, but do you have any idea about the whereabouts of her?"

Vanessie's eyes glistened then at that. "No, I don't. Actually, I don't know anything about the subject. She just disappeared. But I know someone had something to do with it."

"I'm helping her out with that. Very soon, we'll look for something about that."

"Ah," Ned nodded. "That clears up a bit. I was wondering how her daughter's around here when Nessie was banished years ago. So you're both on a mission of finding her?"

"Yeah," the younger brother said. "We know that she's banished, but Van here wants to know why it was done to her. As far as we know, she was a sweet person, and it seemed that a crime she did is highly unlikely. Still... Banishment is the worst punishment possible."

"It has me baffled. I know that she wouldn't do anything terrible." Vanessie said before she sipped tea. "That's what we're finding out. And if we find out where exactly she was banished... I want to know if she's still living."

"Aw, I know that feeling." Ned said. "I, and probably Randy still, miss my mother. She was very sweet and caring. She died a bit too soon. While we were both in college. It broke our hearts. Especially Randy."

Randall nodded, taking a gulpful of coffee. "Yeah."

"I hope you two find something about her soon. It must be hard. Thinking about what could be for your mother. I wish you guys luck on the way." Ned smiled reassuringly.

"Thank you, Ned." Vanessie said contentedly. "We need all the hope we can get."

"Yeah, thanks," Randall half-smiled.

For a little more than an hour, the three of them talked with one another, with Randall speaking up a bit more, but still trying not to interrupt the friendly banter between his brother and Vanessie. She eventually went to refill their coffees when they finished what they had, being a polite host to them.

"Hey, Randy, does Vanessie draw?" Ned asked.

Randall blinked. "How do you know?"

Ned chuckled. "I see her sketchbook in her bag."

Randall looked down to where Vanessie left her bag leaning on her chair and narrowed his eyes.

"I actually thought you were psychic."

"I'm smart, but I can't read minds, Randy." Ned laughed.

"Yeah, she draws."

"You think she wouldn't mind showing us her work?"

"We'll have to ask her when she comes back. I've seen her work before; she's great." Randall smiled.

"Did she go to art school?"

"She couldn't." Randall said sadly.

"Ah, I getcha. Poor girl. Everything did seem to topple over her. At so young an age, too. She's very lucky to have a guy like you by her side."

"Yeah." The younger lizard said. "She depends on me."

"And you like it." Ned grinned.

"Guilty as charged."

Vanessie came back out with the guys and happily giving their mugs full of coffee. The two brothers smiled at her courteously.

"There you go," she said.

"Thank you," Ned said.

"Thanks," the other said.

"You're very welcome." Vanessie said with a giggle. "Just to let you guys know, the shop closes in a little more than half an hour."

"We'll manage the time." Ned beamed.

"Van, Ned here wanted to know if we could look at your artwork." Randall said.

"My artwork?" Vanessie said, looking down to her bag and slid it under her chair with her black-booted-colored foot. "You want to look at it?"

"Randy tells me you're great." Ned said brightly.

"Umm, alright." she said shyly, taking her sketchbook out carefully not to show the loose page she tore out of Randall, and handed it to the green lizard, her hand almost going limp as she held the book, the weight of it becoming heavy as she looked at Randall smiling at her. "The book's not finished yet, to let you know."

As Ned took the book, Randall scooted his chair closer to his brother, grinning as he said, "Hey, share the view, Neddy."

Vanessie's heart beat quicker, and she smiled casually to cover her bashfulness.

Ned flipped through the pages delicately, giving positive feedback on her work and widened his eyes at the details. "Wow, Randy wasn't wrong at all."

"I told you." he said, smiling at Vanessie.

Usually, a smile from Randall made her happy, but in this case, it only made her more and more nervous. She didn't want them to find that loose page. She crossed her legs, having one of them shaking up and down rapidly in anxiety.

"You okay?" Randall asked. Vanessie noticed Ned look up as well.

"Huh? Oh, yeah. Don't mind me. I'm just wondering about your feedback." she said with a feigned laugh.

"Oh, alright," Randall replied, chuckling.

But Vanessie noticed Ned looking at her curiously for a few seconds before he flipped through more pages in her book. That look of his; searching, puzzled and suspicious.

It made her more unbalanced. But it was until Ned somehow saved her.

"I think that's enough to know how great she is." Ned smiled heartily. He closed the book and handed it back to Vanessie.

"Thank you," she said graciously.

About fifteen minutes later, Randall finished his coffee.

"Oh, man," he said.

"You want me to refill it for you?" Vanessie asked.

"Oh, no, it's fine." the purple lizard said right then. "You've been a great host; I'll do it. It's no trouble."

"Okay," Vanessie laughed lightly.

As soon as Randall left inside the café, Ned tapped a finger on the table in the awkward silence.

"There was something you didn't want Randy to see in there, huh?" Ned asked suspiciously but lightheartedly.

She knew that Ned did what he did for her sake. He really was a great guy like Randall said. He even had her back.

"Yeah," Vanessie said as she shook her head. "It's nothing bad, but..."

"It's alright." Ned smiled.

"I drew him." Vanessie confessed quietly. "From memory. Please don't tell him."

"Don't worry. He won't know a thing." Ned said, crossing his heart.

"Thank you."

"It's nothing," Ned grinned. "Although, I think he'd be flattered about you drawing him."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I mean, he's not fond of gifts, but I'm sure he'd get a kick out of yours."

"I don't know. I don't want to look like a creeper." she flushed.

"He won't think that. Trust me, I know my brother."

She thought about it for a bit. She still felt a little insecure about showing Randall her sketch of him. And what would he think about it?

"I'll think about it." she said.

"Alright," Ned nodded politely, then winked. "Still, I think he really would appreciate it."

Vanessie smiled, then looked through the glass of the café and saw Randall coming near.

"He's coming." she said.

Randall opened the door and sat himself down with Vanessie and Ned. When he looked at them, he noticed the awkward silence. Ned was quietly drinking his coffee, as did Vanessie with her tea.

"What happened while I was gone." he chuckled.

"Oh, we were talking," Vanessie said, then giggled. "You just made it weird by coming back."

Randall then gave Vanessie her teasing punches. Ned laughed.

The three of them left the café after closing time and they walked to Vanessie's apartment to drop her off. As they walked, they chatted about how work is and stuff that recently happened on the job. They laughed as they went.

Then Vanessie shivered and zipped up her leather jacket. "Jeez, it's cold."

"Yeah, good thing the winter's a bit more gentle this year," Ned said, his breath coming out in little clouds.

"Looks like it's going to rain tonight." Randall said, stretching out his arm, feeling sprinkling droplets.

"Oh, won't that sound nice." Vanessie sighed happily. "My father used to LOVE rain. Especially the pitter-patter of the rain hitting the roof. Just standing IN the rain is what bugs me. I could get sick afterwards."

Then Randall heard her gasp and turn to her. She brought her hands to her face and sneezed with a squeak. "Chooo!"

"Bless you!" Ned laughed.

"Let's get you home soon before you get that cold." Randall chuckled.

"Yeah, thanks. I feel the rain pouring harder now." she giggled, blushing.

They all tried to speed walk to Vanessie's home. When they came close, thunder roared.

"Oh, crap," Randall exclaimed.

He was surprised to hear Vanessie laugh in a hysterical manner at the thunder. He saw her look up at the sky, her red hair damp and heavy. He looked at Ned. Ned shrugged.

"What's so funny?" Randall asked.

"Nothing's funny!" she giggled. "It's just exciting!"

"You're not afraid of thunder...? Or the possibility of being struck by lightning?"

"No, and I don't know why." she said before she laughed again. "Wow, isn't this gorgeous."

Then she sneezed again.

"Come on," Randall said as he put his arm around Vanessie. "Let's get you back home before that cold lasts you a week."

After two blocks, they made their destination. They all stepped into the apartment complex, where they found refuge from the coldness outside. Vanessie took off her leather jacket and shook the water off the mane down her hair and back, finishing at her toes. When she turned around he saw Randall staring at her with shrunken pupils, water Vanessie shook off dripping down his body.

"Sorry, Randy." Vanessie apologized.

"I think he doesn't mind," Ned said.

After Vanessie turned around, Randall slapped Ned's arm. "What the hell, man?" he whispered.

"I couldn't help it." he whispered back.

"Oh, I can't have the conscience of leaving you two to walk back home without anything to cover you from the rain. Here, come. I'll let you borrow an umbrella." Vanessie said, leading the brothers to her apartment.

When they came to her door, she unlocked it and opened it slowly, surprised to find that her cat wasn't eagerly greeting her there like she always did. She opened the door more and led the two in.

"I think I have an idea where she is,"

"Who?" Ned asked.

"My cat, Chimmy." Vanessie said as she sat on her knees in front of her red sofa and crouched down to look under. She saw a small black lump under there, it's bright yellow-green eyes staring back, dilated. "Awwww, poor baby! Pobresita!"

The thunder roared again and the kitten mewed with a timid squeak.

"Aw," Vanessie said. "Don't worry, baby, the thunder will go away!"

She stood up again and told Randall and Ned, "Your umbrellas. Hold on a sec." She walked over to a small closet and picked two of them, a black one and a navy blue one. Walked over to the two. "Here you go. You can give them back soon. I can't think of you guys getting drenched out there."

"Thanks, Van." Randall said with a smile.

"It's not a problem at all," she replied. "Thank you for the evening. It was so nice to meet you, Ned."

"It was nice to meet you, Miss," Ned smiled, shaking Vanessie's hand.

"Well, I'll see you guys later, then. You at work, Randy." she led the two to the door.

"You, too." Randall said. "Have a good night."

"Back at you," she said in a sweet voice, the door closing framing her face before she finally shut the door.

When Randall and Ned stepped out of the complex, the older noticed the younger disappearing.

"Man, Randy, you are going in deep." Ned said.

Randall smiled. "I know."

"I think she does like you... A lot." Ned said with a warm and considerate smile.

Randall smiled back.

"But don't get your hopes up," Ned said. "That's what I think. But don't go forward. Keep being friends; there will be a time when you both are ready to go that way."

"I know."

Ned noticed that Randall was still smiling, his eyes looking soft and warm.

"Having hope?"

"I think so, yeah."

Randall looked up at the sky and saw a ribbon of lighting flash like cracking glass, the thunder roaring again after. It did look gorgeous. Dangerous but gorgeous. He then thought about chance. He thought his was more fortunate and promising than what a lightning bolt could attempt. Maybe that's why Vanessie thought it was gorgeous. He hoped that was why. He chuckled in the rain.


	12. Chapter 11

Winds of Change-A Monsters, Inc. fanfic

Chapter 11

The next Monday came too soon. The day after Vanessie hung out with Ned and Randall on Saturday, they hung out again, but in Vanessie's apartment. Randall was once again visited by her cat, Chimmy. He warmed up to her a bit more, but was still ignorant around her when she cuddled his legs, unable to respond to her actions. Ned liked the cat, being the more lighthearted one.

Randall gave Ned permission to tell Vanessie stories of their childhood, since after they arrived back at the apartment Saturday night, Ned told Randall that maybe she liked those kinds of stories.

"You think so?" Randall said skeptically.

"Yeah, bro!" Ned beamed. "That story about your first cake; she was eating it up! She thought it was adorable!"

"She did, huh?" Randall nodded.

"Yes, so you shouldn't feel worried about telling those old childhood stories!"

They did share more tales with Vanessie and they didn't fail to make her giggle in delight. She did find a tiny Randall passing out cupcakes in elementary school to be the most adorable thing she's heard of. It relieved him. Until Ned opened his mouth.

"I even have a photo of it." Ned said as he pulled out his wallet, grinning. "My most favorite picture of my baby brother."

"Oh, jeez," Randall moaned, covering his eyes from seeing his brother pass the photo to Vanessie.

He heard a squeal.

"Oh, my God! Tiny little Randy! Aww, he's so adorable!" Vanessie giggled. "Look at your stubby little fingers! And your fronds! So cute!"

Randall remembered the photo: it was of him at five years, carrying a tray of cupcakes and a huge smile. His eyes were also big and vibrant and sported large glasses.

"You wore glasses, too!" she laughed.

"This is embarrassing," Randall mumbled to himself.

Ned left Sunday night. He promised Randall that he would come back often again to see how his little brother's doing, much to Randall's content. He really missed his brother in so long, and now that he has him back again, he wanted to make up for the time they had away from each other. He loved having such an understanding brother.

"Thanks for coming, Neddy," Randall said, helping his brother out with holding his bags for him to Ned's car. "It means a lot to me."

"Oh, Randy, it's no problem," Ned smiled. "Anything for my little brother."

Randall smiled back graciously.

"Want me to come every Sunday?"

"That would be great, yeah."

Ned set his bags on the floor then and hugged Randall tightly. Randall hugged back and felt tears coming in. Soon enough, he let them flow down his face.

"Remember, Randy, if you need anything, I'll come in a flash." Ned said happily. "But I'll come regularly like I did before."

Randall sniffed. "Thank you, Ned."

"You're welcome, Randy," Ned said.

Randall helped Ned with his bags into his car and hugged his brother goodbye before he watched his car drift away into the distance. He wished Vanessie were there to break the lonely silence then.

It was Monday morning and Randall met Vanessie at their desk. As he greeted her, he saw her drawing something on a blank piece of paper.

"What are you drawing?" he asked her.

She jumped at the sound of his voice, but smiled at him when she realized the voice came from him. "Oh, just Chimmy again."

"She's like your daughter or something." Randall chuckled.

"Yeah, actually," she giggled, then changed her expression to a serious one. "Hey, do you think that Sulley would mind if we find anything about my mother?

Randall thought about it. He and Sulley were on better terms now. And he was sure that he would let them find any clues about Nessie. "I think he'll let us. Here, come."

Vanessie followed Randall out of the floor and to Sulley's office door. As they came to a stop, Vanessie hugged her waist.

"You okay?" Randall asked quietly.

"Yeah, just shy." Vanessie said. "I mean, who goes around asking to find any files on their missing parent?"

"Do you want to find out what happened to your mother?" Randall asked.

"Of course I do, but..." she trailed off. "Could you ask for me?"

Randall softened and smiled. "Sure I will. But you have to do some talking, too."

"I will, thanks." Vanessie said happily.

At that, Randall knocked on the door of the office. A muffled voice in the room asked, "Come in,"

Randall turned the knob and led Vanessie in the room with an encouraging smile and whispered to her, "Come on." Vanessie followed. Sulley sat on his desk, his huge furry hands writing on some paperwork. He looked up and smiled at his two guests.

"Oh, hello, Randall," Sulley said. "Hello, Vanessie,"

"Hey," the two said.

"What can I do for you?"

Randall turned his head to Vanessie, her sending him an unsure but pleading glance. He made a quick nod and faced Sulley again. "Van here wants to know if there's anything–ANYTHING around the building that would tell her about what happened to her mother, Nessie. With her working here, she could have huge access to the information she wants to know."

Sulley glanced at Vanessie with a concerned look and thought about it. She felt tense and held her hands behind her back, looking down to the floor. Then Sulley's mouth curved to a smile.

"Vanessie, how about this?" he said, facing her. She looked up. "I don't really do much rather than regulate the factory and all; in my spare time, I could look for something. I can see you're worried about your mother. I want to help in any way I can."

"I would be very grateful," Vanessie said with a hopeful smile. "Thank you so much."

"Oh, anytime." Sulley replied. "I see you're mother means so much to you. I'll try my best to find something."

Vanessie expressed a soft airy laugh, making Randall smile.

"You go to the floor, Van." Randall said. "I'll catch up with you there."

"Okay," Vanessie said on her way out of the office.

She thought she could've done that months ago: just asking the boss to help look for anything having to do with Nessie. But she was too shy to do so, especially having such a request for a CEO like Sulley. But she knew that he was kind. She was grateful for that characteristic of him. But she also had Randall, who stood by her many times. She felt blessed to have him by her side. Her heart warmed at the thought of his name. Randall. Randy. She savored hearing it in her head. She headed to the floor.

"Thank you for helping us out, Sullivan," Randall said in a heartfelt manner.

"'Us'?" Sulley smiled.

Randall sighed. "Yeah... Us."

"Knowing you, Randall," Sulley said with a smile. "I'm thinking that Vanessie means a lot to you to help her out this much."

"She does mean a lot." Randall said, then breathed in deeply. "More than anything."

"You want to make her happy,"

"I want her to be at peace. The moment she's at peace... I'll be, too." Randall said. He meant those words. If they couldn't find a speck of information about Nessie, he couldn't bear to see Vanessie heartbroken with uncertainty. He could try to make her happy, and he would always, but he knew it wouldn't make a difference to her worrying about her mother. He knew that if she knew Nessie were still alive, she would want to know where. He never wanted to see her in desperation, in worry, in depression. He really did want to help her, and he won't stop at all until they do find something. He wanted to be at peace with her. He wanted to live that moment where all the stress is gone completely, along with her.

"I'll do my best. There is an archive room here." then Sulley leaned in his chair. "I forgot to tell Vanessie, but if I do find something, don't tell anyone that I gave you two classified information."

Randall grew silent for a second and squinted his eyes. "Classified...?"

"We're talking about a monster who's been banished. I know many stories said that probably the government banished her; others said that she simply ran away. But you know what I think? I think Waternoose banished her."

It was no surprise at all. Randall did think that Waternoose could be most likely responsible for the banishment. The other stories in newspapers involving Nessie running away and government involvement could be Waternoose's ways of keeping the company away from speculations, since he was wealthy. Just thinking about Waternoose made Randall stick out his lizard-like tongue in disgust.

"I see," Randall said. "So you'll call us if you find something?"

"Of course," Sulley said. "You can't be deprived of any information. Not at all. It wasn't fair to Vanessie. She should know. She should've known..."

Randall shook his head. "It's not fair... Imagine. Waternoose had more than one crime on his hands. And it had to be on her. Against her own family. And the death of her father."

"If you knew Waternoose most likely did it, did you tell her?"

Randall sighed again. "Not yet."

"What will she think of it?"

After half a minute, Randall's only response was a shrug. If he were to tell that the same boss he worked for building a harmful machine to take screams from children banished her mother and killed her father, he didn't know how she'd react. And the fact that he never told her that he thinks Waternoose is a huge suspect worried him more.

"I never thought about telling her."

"Well, Waternoose is in jail for life anyway; all we have to find out now is where Nessie is and why she is banished. I think you and I both can tell this was all Waternoose's doing."

"Yeah," Randall nodded.

"Don't worry," Sulley said. "I'll find something."

"Thank you," Randall said.

"So..." Sulley said, his claws tapping on the desk. "Vanessie means a lot to you, huh?"

"You suspect it, huh?"

"Actually, Mike told me."

Randall chuckled. "Wazowski."

"I see the dedication you give her. You're quite a gentleman to her."

"Yeah, well... I can't help it."

"I wish you luck with her. She's like her mother in many ways." Sulley said. "We have such a small town. I think a long time ago, when I was a kid, I saw Nessie at a park, and she had a little Vanessie with her. She was younger than me then; I think about two—three years younger, right? Than us?"

"Yeah." Randall nodded, listening intently.

"Yeah, and she was plucking flowers with her mother. I already knew that Nessie was a scarer, and knowing her daughter was with her there, I instantly knew that, yeah, she'll be like her mother. I see her now, and she is like her. Only a very shy version of her."

Randall pictured a smaller Vanessie, even smaller than the one he saw on her favorite family portrait photo, picking flowers in a park and tying them into small necklaces for herself and her mother. A small smile formed on Randall's face as he thought about it.

"Yeah. I don't want that spirit of hers to die."

"Help her preserve it. It's all she has... And you," Sulley said sincerely.

"I will," Randall said before he left the office and went over to the laugh floor.

When he made it, he spotted Vanessie waving at him urgently. He scurried over to their desk quickly.

"You're so lucky, Randy," Vanessie said. "They're about to start now."

"Sorry about that."

"It's fine. I just don't want us to screw up with just one of us here." she laughed.

While Randall did his work making the children laugh, Vanessie sat making sure their work was progressing. Then she felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned and saw Celia.

"Oh, hey," Vanessie said.

"Hello," Celia said with a smile. "Look, I know we talked once, but, you know, I think we should get to know each other."

"Why so?" Vanessie asked, then flinched. "I mean, not that that's bad, but..."

"Oh, I just noticed Mike and Randall going on better terms, so... I don't know, it's very rare to see another chick around here." she giggled.

"Yeah, mostly guys here." Vanessie giggled back.

"Hey, Van," Randall's voice cut in. "I see you made a friend."

Celia squinted at the lizard. Vanessie noticed.

"It's alright, Celia. He'll behave around me." she said smirking at Randall.

"I can behave when you're not around," Randall chuckled, then looked at Celia. "Just not as much."

Celia's snake hair rattled in response.

"Jeez, Celia, you can't take a joke. All things aside." Randall said. He turned to Vanessie, smiling. "I'm gonna resume work here."

Vanessie nodded and when he walked toward the new door that was just placed on the platform, Vanessie stared at him, taking not of how smooth his scaled looked. How they shine under the sun. She found herself blinking out of the trance when she heard a voice.

"What?" she asked.

"I said, you got a little thing for him, huh?" Celia grinned.

Vanessie blushed and remained silent as she spun her chair to do paperwork. Celia abruptly spun her around suddenly to have them face each other again, Vanessie's eyes widened open and surprised.

"Come on, tell me, I won't tell." Celia said, whispering.

"Tell you what? It's obvious is it?"

"So it's true!"

Vanessie rolled her eyes, but in an amused manner. "Yes,"

"Well, save the details. I was thinking we could probably hang out sometime. Y'know, like a Girls Night Out kind of thing, and then you could open up. Cause here..." Celia said, looking at the door Randall went in and all the co-workers. "Yeah, you know."

"That might sound fun," Vanessie smiled. She remembered when she used to go to slumber parties and sleepovers with her childhood friends. That was a long time ago, and she really missed those times that she could be a silly teenage monster with her girl friends. But she remembered that those were the friends who left her when she was in need of help. After she was orphaned and left with practically nothing. But here is Celia, and she could probably bring back that childhood. She really wanted to do girl stuff again.

"Awesome!" Celia said. "How about this Friday?"

"Yeah,"

"Here, I'll write you my address." Celia said as she took a blank piece of paper to write on.

Randall then emerged from his door. When he reached the two girls, he asked, "Wow, just four minutes and you're already exchanging info."

"Well, we're chicks, so..." Vanessie giggled. Celia sent her a suspicious yet grinning look. When Celia finished, she gave the slip of paper to Vanessie. "Thanks."

"Welcome, sweetie." Celia said with a smile. Before she walked away she sent another grin to her and Randall.

She turned back to the chameleon and saw how he was glaring at her with those sly green eyes. She giggled. "What?"

"I didn't know you were the girly type." Randall smirked.

"I'm not."

"Well, just so you know, I've known Celia for a long time, and let me tell you, she's the opposite of you." he replied in a matter-of-fact attitude. "I wish you good luck with her."

"Is she that bad?"

"Eh, it's not bad... But she'll smother you with perfumes and makeup."

Vanessie gulped. "I'll just tell her to tone it down."

Randall chuckled. "Not one for makeup, huh?"

"Meh, maybe eyeliner here and there, but yeah, I'm not into that stuff." Vanessie shrugged, smiling faintly.

"That's good. You don't need it anyway."

"No?"

Randall began to feel his tail disappear gradually. He forced his visibility back. He turned to not face Vanessie, knowing for a fact that what he'll say next would be terrible. "Uh, yeah... You already have a nice face."

To his luck, he heard a light laugh, but he still resented his awkward compliments.

"Thanks." Vanessie said.

Randall swayed all his arms like four pendulums and took in a deep breath, wanting to break the glass of gawkiness. "Well... I'm gonna go continue on my stuff."

"You do that." Vanessie said with a smile.

Once again, Randall went on with work, with yet another screw-up on his mind. Then he remembered what his brother said to him before. She did laugh. She did smile at his clumsiness. At the thought, he regained some hope that maybe he didn't do so bad.

After a few days, Thursday came along. Wednesday night, Sulley called Randall at night, telling him that he found a bit of information about Vanessie's mother. He wanted him to come early the next morning to show the paperwork without hassle. Lastly, Randall was told that Vanessie would be let known about this, too.

Randall stepped into the doors of the factory until he heard someone call his name. He looked round the empty lobby and found Sullivan coming out of one of the hallways. He was approaching him. Randall walked closer to him to make it pass faster.

"What is it?" Randall asked.

"We're going to have to discuss this in the office." the furry monster said. "When Vanessie comes, I'll let her know about this."

"Alright."

Sulley and Randall stepped into the CEO office after a few minutes. Sulley approached his desk and with a key unlocked a drawer of the desk, pulling out a worn old folder. At the sight of it, Randall's heart sank. By the looks of it, it didn't seem good.

"This is what I found."

Vanessie was rushing as she packed her belongings for work, her kitten distracting her with long complaining meows and blocking her owner's way. With the day looking cold and grey outside, she looked into her closet for a sweater and found a nice burgundy one. She pulled it immediately.

She wanted to come to work early today from Sulley's message the night before. She knew that this had something to do with her request for any found evidence of her mother, and she guessed this was it. For something like this, it was crucial for her to know. But it wasn't crucial enough to wake up early to, she thought. She woke up a half hour later than she planned.

"Meooooow," Chimmy mewed, trying to fly off the ground with her buzzy, small wings, only to have a few inches made.

"Baby, stop being a chillona." Vanessie pleaded in a ticked off fashion. "You can lie around and do what you want, but I have to go somewhere important."

"Mow,"

"Don't talk back to me, floja. I'll come back normal like every day, okay?"

"Rawr,"

"Hey, watch your mouth." Vanessie said in a motherly fashion. When she looked at her digital clock, she gasped. She spent ten minutes awake. "I gotta go."

She ran out the door urgently and slammed it, running out of the apartment complex. The door hung open after she left and the kitten mewed in curiosity.

Randall looked at the yellowed documents. It felt so unreal to hold these pieces of paper that were so forbidden to be seen by eyes other than Waternoose. Yet, there was a sense of triumph. He read through them thoroughly, reading every single sentence, finding out every single abbreviation, taking it all in.

Most of it was identification: Name: Nessie Margarita Loch, Age: 29, Sex: Female, Type: Mammal, Marital Status: Married... It repeated throughout the documents. But one single sentence out of it all shocked him the most. "Must be disposed of for rebellious and defiant actions."

"See anything?" Sulley asked.

Randall read the sentence over and over again until it sounded like ancient blabber, like it didn't sound like English anymore.

"Yeah, why? You didn't read this?"

"No. I wanted to allow you and Vanessie to read it first. It's more important to you." Sulley said, folding his massive hands over his desk.

Randall looked down at the folder again. He sighed. It still wasn't enough.

"It says that she 'must be disposed of for rebellious and defiant actions.' But... Nessie wouldn't have done anything rebellious, would she?" Randall asked.

"That does sound odd. What we know is that Nessie was the sweetest and most lively monster we've ever had." Sulley said in a puzzled manner. "If Vanessie reads that... She would be outraged."

"She would." Randall said. "But she still has to read it."

"Of course."

Randall spent more time looking through the papers. Then he widened his eyes. After flipping through the pages again, he remembered looking at a sentence that looked rushed and sloppy. As he read through it several times, he finally had it in his mind. It said, "Evidence of crime are collected in tape."

Tape. Tape. Like a video tape? Holy—

"Sullivan," Randall said, shutting the folder closed, and slapped it on Sulley's desk. He cringed a bit, as if apologizing for the sudden action. "It says that there is a tape of evidence... Evidence."

"It does?" Sulley said, lifting his head.

"You have to find it." Randall said. Despite Sulley's sigh, Randall got up and said again, "You have to find it. Please."

Sulley tapped his thick fingers on the desk and thought about it. Randall knew it'd be a bit more risky for something like digging up an archived tape of something as silent as Nessie's disappearance. Then he felt relieved when he saw Sulley begin to nod.

"Yeah," he said. "Okay."

When Randall was about to thank him, the door knob turned behind him and he saw a familiar face peek into the room.

"Oh, Vanessie, come in." Sulley said with a smile.

Vanessie blushed. "I'm so sorry I'm late. I swear I set my alarm clo—"

"No, no, it's fine. Don't worry about it." Sulley replied reassuringly.

Vanessie glanced at Randall and looked at his green eyes. Even without saying a word, his softening expression reassured her more, but her heart began to race at the glance, not in embarrassment.

"Come sit. There's quite a bit to talk about."

Vanessie sat in the chair next to Randall's, her black fingers numb in distress. What did they find out about her mother? She shook her crossed feet impatiently after she sat. Before she knew it, she realized she began biting her retracting claws as soon as she rested on the chair. She flinched and kept her hands folded, professionally, on her lap. A faint chuckle from Randall calmed her down minimally.

"So, what's up?" Vanessie said, her voice cracking once. She cleared her throat and said, her voice trailing off, "Anything good? ...Hopefully?"

"It depends." Randall said, not facing Vanessie.

She could tell that this case would still be a mystery. How could found evidence depend on what's good? Her foot shook again. Randall retrieved the folder sitting on top of the desk and gave it to her.

A beeping sound commenced and Vanessie and Randall looked up. Sullivan looked at his watch, the source of the rhythmic, high-pitched sound, and sighed. "I'm sorry, I have to go to a meeting. Please lock the door before you two leave. Randall, you explain her what's going on, okay?"

"Sure,"

At that, Sulley stood up and walked out the door.

Besides the sound of the air conditioner moaning, a long silence followed when Randall let Vanessie take a look at the yellowed pages first, examining her expression and finding nothing on her face, surprising him. After five minutes, he laid a careful hand on her shoulder and she didn't flinch.

Vanessie didn't understand the pages at all. It was all the same; her mother's bio. There was nothing new. Then she saw pages that had scribbly handwriting that was hardly readable. Her brows furrowed together in confusion, the only trace of expression Randall noticed as she looked more at the documents. She read though the papers again until she said in a quiet voice, "I don't get it."

Randall cleared his throat as he slipped his hand off her shoulder. He made a gesture of handing him the papers and she obeyed silently. He took out a certain page and told her, in the most sincere and comforting voice he could muster, the words on it.

"It says here," he began. "'Must be disposed of for rebellious and defiant actions.'"

He saw her confused-brows-furrowed expression and she shook her head.

"Disposed of...?" she said so silently, Randall had to think about the sound of her voice and trace her words together. "Rebellious? Defiant?"

"I don't understand it either, Van," Randall said. "It doesn't sound like Nessie at all."

"She would never do anything wrong." Vanessie said. "But 'disposed of'? It's sounds like just throwing her away. As if she's nothing more than trash..."

Randall was as disappointed as she was. Then he slipped out another page and shown it in front of her. "There's this also. And it may help a lot."

Vanessie took the page and followed Randall's plump finger tracing the scribbly words, him translating, "Evidence of crime collected in tape."

Vanessie felt her heartbeat quicken. She felt the document before her dampen from her dainty fingers.

"Sullivan's helping us find that tape. Hopefully for more info, too." Randall said. Looking at how frozen Vanessie was, he suspected that she didn't listen to what he said. "Van?"

She blinked. "Huh?" Randall repeated what he last said. "Anything that gets us closer to her."

"We're getting there. I can feel it." Randall said.

Vanessie looked up at him and he sent a small smile to her. "Can you?"

He chuckled softly. "Sure I can. You know, when I was waiting for my letter from MU, I was thinking that I probably wouldn't be accepted. I took advanced classes and everything to get me prepared, and I still wasn't sure of it. But my mother told me that if I knew I worked so hard, so persistent in everything I needed to do, then I should be confident in what I hope for, and that I'm sure to get it. After she told me that, I was positive that I'll get accepted. And you know what?"

Vanessie shifted her eyes in response, her lips parting slightly.

"I never felt that before I was banished. But now I do. I'm sure of it." he smiled. "we just have to keep hoping. And maybe... Maybe on the other side, she's hoping for us. For you."

Vanessie laughed silently, her smile warming Randall's heart. She opened her mouth, then hesitated, then shook her head a little as if she were going to spill it out anyway. "You feel it in your fronds, huh?" she said looking up at Randall's head.

'This girl', Randall thought, and he chuckled again. Going with it, he said, "Yeah, I feel it in my fronds."

Vanessie giggled. "Thank you."

"It's no problem." he said with a cocky grin. "Now, let's get to work, shall we?"

"We shall."

Vanessie and Randall left the documents in Sulley's office, locking it like he requested, before they went to the Laugh Floor to get lounge a bit before work officially starts, given that it was still early when they reached the floor. They chatted like always before more employees came in. They worked together for the day and joked and talked in-between with their coffee breaks. Soon enough, the shift was over and the two got ready to leave. Randall gentlemanly escorted Vanessie out the door and off the front of the company.

As Vanessie watched the setting sun in the distance, she ran her hand through her scarlet hair, smiling as she turned to Randall.

"Well, Randy. I guess I'll see you tomorrow." she said happily.

"See you tomorrow," Randall smiled back. When Vanessie began to walk away to her second job, Randall added, "Have a nice evening."

She walked backwards and replied to him with a grin, "You, too."

As Randall was walking home, he felt a great sense of selfless pride. He felt he was doing such a great thing for Vanessie, and he loved doing it for her. And he knew that when they get so much closer to Nessie, they would be much happier. At least he would when Vanessie is at peace.

Vanessie walked to her second job that evening and went through it happily, offering free sketches to the regulars and drank two cups of her favorite tea to spoil herself.

After her shift, she walked back home, feeling light and fuzzy inside. She made it to her apartment complex and entered the lobby. But then she saw the landlord standing there leaning on the front counter. She hardly saw him around.

Mr. Rosewater was a moss green, three-eyed slug monster, and his name shouldn't be fooled with. He was feared around the complex and seeing him now brought a nasty chill on Vanessie.

"Hello, Miss Vanessa Jazmine Loch." he greeted quite slyly. "How are we today?"

Vanessie hesitated to speak, thinking this might be some kind of trick. "Uh, pretty good. Thanks for asking."

"Ah," the slug nodded. "But, ahm... Did you forget something?"

Vanessie stood there motionless for seconds, thinking deeply what the landlord meant. She doesn't remember forgetting anything this morning. She shook her head.

"You don't remember what you forgot?" the slug said in a feigned but mocking gasp.

"No..." Vanessie trailed off. "I'm sorry. I don't remember."

It was then her answer was revealed when behind the counter, Rosewater pulled out a familiar ball by a scruff of fur. It was a batcat.

"Chimmy," Vanessie whispered. "Crap."

The kitted looked at her with enlarged, sorrowful pupils, and mewed apologetically to her owner. She looked as if she surrendered and seeing her this way broke Vanessie's heart. She broke a rule and she knew it.

"No pets allowed." Rosewater said. "Remember that?"

Vanessie muttered under her breath. "Sh—"

"How long have you had it, huh?"

Vanessie squeezed the space between her brows and closed her eyes tightly shut. She didn't want to believe this was happening.

"A few months now..." she admitted.

"A few months." Rosewater repeated. "You know what the penalty for this is, right?"

Vanessie looked at the landlord, her eyes widened with worry and heartbreak. "No... Please."

"I'm sorry, but the rules are rules. You will be evicted from the complex." Rosewater said bluntly.

"No, no!" Vanessie said. "Please don't do this! She didn't do anything wrong!"

"Mmm hmm," the slug nodded unamusedly, then pointed to a corner of the lobby. "Well, what about the carpet in the corner there? What do you say to that."

Vanessie looked at her kitten again. The kitten looked back with those huge yellow-green eyes before she stared down in embarrassment and guilt. Vanessie sighed.

"Well, she's a cat. She can't help it."

"Still, even if you did declaw her, you have to abide to the rules. She's a pet, therefore you broke the rule." he said as he dropped the kitten in front of Vanessie. She caught her before she reached the floor. The kitten turned to the slug and hissed at him, her eyes shrinking to slits.

The slug slithered backwards in horror, shielding himself with his arms. "Ugh, little nasty creature."

"Can I at least leave tomorrow? I have nowhere to go then! Please." Vanessie pleaded, feeling tears come to her eyes. "Please, I promise I'll be out of your hands by tomorrow!"

Rosewater looked at her and her kitten with squinted eyes. Then he thought about it looking into space. He nodded. "Fine. But after tomorrow, you're out of here. And your little demon, too."

Chimmy hissed and tried to fling herself at the slug then. Vanessie caught her before she could do any more damage and held her close to her chest. "Chimmy! Shhhhh!"

The landlord slithered away in disgust and left the room.

Vanessie grunted and stomped other room. When she walked inside, she slammed the door behind her. She lifted her kitten in front of her and brought her face to hers.

"Why the heck did you wander off, huh? Huh?" Vanessie asked, shaking the kitten.

Chimmy mewed confusedly.

"Now because of you, we both have to leave from here! Tomorrow!" Vanessie said angrily, shaking her kitten again. "What do you say to that?"

The kitten licked her nose and stared at her owner until she answered. "Mow."

Vanessie sucked in air and breathed out. She gently put Chimmy down and fell on the couch. First she sniffed. Then she whimpered. Then she began crying. Chimmy noticed this and walked to the foot of the couch, then jumped up on the cushion with her. She apologetically rubbed her face against her crying owner's cheek and laid in a ball next to her.

"It would've happened anyway." Vanessie mumbled. "I couldn't keep you a secret for so long. This is my fault. I got carried away with my happiness. I should've known it wouldn't last so long..."

"Mew," Chimmy mewed sadly.

The two stayed there, Vanessie crying her eyes out on her scarlet couch until she fell asleep.


	13. Chapter 12

Winds of Change-A Monsters, Inc. fanfic

Chapter 12

Vanessie got ready for her horrible day. She packed her things for work until she heard a soft knock at the door. She knew who it was before she opened the door after seeing Chimmy hiss at the door.

"Morning, Mr. Rosewater." Vanessie greeted, rubbing her eyes from exhaustion.

"Morning, Vanessa," the slug said rather kindly. "Listen. I know it's been hard for you. Losing your mother and all and having the responsibility up for yourself. And I knew your mother. She was a very lovely person. She was the kind who loved everyone, you know?"

"Yeah," Vanessie said, puzzled.

"So I'm giving you one more chance at this." Rosewater said calmly. "You can remain here. But... There's one condition. You have to let go of your cat."

"So if I want to stay," Vanessie began, clearing her throat. "I have to ditch the cat."

"That is correct."

Vanessie tapped the frame of the door, thinking about it. Then she looked at the landlord in the eyes, her eyes shrinking to slits like Chimmy's the night before. "My mother never left me. She would never abandon me. I wouldn't do the same to my baby."

The slug blinked.

"I know you hate animals, but this CAT happens to be family to me. She's my baby and I intend on taking care of her. I would rather die alone with my baby than live years without her. I'm NOT simply throwing her away to an animal shelter where she would die. No, screw that." and slammed the door on the landlord's face.

She leaned her back on the door and slid to the floor as she took a deep sigh. The kitten walked up to her and rubbed herself on her doting mother-owner. Vanessie ran her fingers through her kitten's soft brownish-black downy fur and bent down to kiss her big forehead.

"I feel like an idiot," she said as she sat there as the morning sunlight spilled from the windows and cried silently.

Randall came to work, eager to see Vanessie as always. He walked over to the Laugh Floor only to see that his partner wasn't there. He blinked his eyes in confusion. She always came early before him. But now... Something's not right. Nevertheless, he sat down at their station and waited for Vanessie at the desk. He spotted a stack of white paper and picked at them, noticing they were drawn on.

He slipped them out of the shelf and flipped through them, a lot of them sketches of monsters at work... Especially of him. He was impressed at how much detail Vanessie took to mind with his body and the curves and lines. He saw many sketches of her cat, a lot of them of her in silly poses and actions like when she would hover with her tiny bat-wings. He laughed softly at a lot of them.

Then he heard footsteps approaching, and he looked up to see Vanessie coming to their station. Randall smiled.

"Good morning, Van." Randall greeted, putting away the drawings into their shelf, and walked up to Vanessie. "How are you?"

As he stopped in front of her, he noticed her head hung low. Her red bangs covered her eyes. His heart sunk when he looked up to see Vanessie's eyes red; probably from crying. The ring around her eyelids were still moist and her tear marks on her cheeks were dry by distinguishable. She sniffed.

"What's wrong?" Randall asked, now concerned. At a desk closest to him, he found a box of tissues. He grabbed one quickly and went to work drying Vanessie's eyes. "What happened?"

Vanessie pushed Randall's hands away from her face, as if she weren't worth cheering up this tenderly. "I broke a rule. My apartment's taken away..."

Randall's eyes widened. "What rule did you break?"

Vanessie began sniffing again. "My cat. I wasn't supposed to keep her. I thought... I thought... I thought I could keep her myself, but before I left yesterday I guess I left the door open and Chimmy wandered off."

Randall wished he could call the cat many names, but knowing Vanessie's state now, he held his words. He knew how much she loved her cat very much. "I'm so sorry. Really."

Vanessie's tears began flowing again, and her cheeks began to look purple as she blushed in embarrassment. She didn't want to cry in front of Randall often, but she couldn't help but spill over her broken heart through her tears. But once Randall unhesitantly took her in his arms, she let everything out. Randall allowed her to let her tears flow down his shoulders, and he felt the warm, tiny streams go down his body. Then she cried into his chest.

"Shh... Shh shh shh..." Randall hushed Vanessie, stroking her red hair delicately. "Shhhh..."

"I'm such an idiot." Vanessie murmured between gasps.

"No, you're not." Randall said.

"Yes, I am." she replied. "Maybe I should give her away... Ive got nowhere else to go and I need a place to stay."

"Now listen to me," Randall said, his second pair of arms caressing her waist carefully. "Don't you ever say that. You're such a loving person to take in your kitten. Don't give in to them and give away something you love so deeply. I know for a fact that without your cat... You'd feel guilty and miserable."

Vanessie sniffed. "You're right. It'd be so hard to let her go to a cage. And people hardly love black batcats anyway. She'd be miserable without me."

"You see?" Randall said soothingly. "You two need each other. You should keep each other."

"But where will I live?" Vanessie cried again. "What will I do? I have nowhere to go."

"How about your boss, Luis?"

"You probably don't know; he has six kids. I don't want to be an addition." she replied.

"Dare I say... Celia?"

"Hell, no." she gasped. "Nothing wrong with Celia, but... I don't find us being great roommates. I even hear that Mike goes to her apartment often and..."

"Euuugh..." Randall said, squinting his eyes. That would be troublesome for Vanessie.

He could volunteer to have her in his apartment, but he didn't mention it first because he thought it sounded a bit scandalous. He knew he was in love with her, and having the girl he loves deeply sleep in his house made him feel a bit uncomfortable for her. It wasn't as if he would do anything bad to her, but he would have notions... Many notions. And the fact that he never had a female in his apartment before made him nervous, especially one as sweet and slender as Vanessie. But knowing her need for shelter, he couldn't help but decide. He could give her his bed and he could sleep on the couch until she's able to live on her own again. That's a good start. And his apartment was a bit empty; he could help Vanessie sell most of the furniture they bought months ago and let her choose what she wants to keep for the apartment. It sounds good. Very good.

"You could live with me." Randall said abruptly after he thought about it. She suddenly lifted her head then, her pink eyes still glossy but hopefully surprised.

"Live with you?" she asked.

"Yeah. I don't mind at all, really." Randall said. "I mean, it's small, but it won't be any trouble at all."

Vanessie sniffed. Randall let go of her and went to the desk again to retrieve another tissue. As he handed it to her, she accepted it this time, thinking this was a good sign. She wiped her eyes and he noticed that her breathing was coming normal again. He felt a little relieved.

"I don't know."

"Van, you don't have a lot of options. And don't worry, I already said I don't mind." Randall said calmly.

Vanessie dabbed her eyes with the tissue and looked into space, thinking about it. Randall involuntarily wiped off a tear that she didn't catch. She looked up at him.

"But what about the furniture?"

"Here, how about we ask for the rest of the day off and I'll help you with all that? I could help you sell a bit of the furniture. Well keep some of it." he said.

"And Chimmy? Is she allowed?"

Randall chuckled. "There's a lady in the complex who has ten more pets than you. And she owns pigs. My landlord doesn't care much; as long as the homeowners pay."

Vanessie gave a quiet, breathily laugh, then stood silent. "You'd help me out?" Vanessie asked in a hushed but relieved voice.

"Of course I would." Randall, pushing aside a strand of red bangs from Vanessie's face. "I would to make you happy."

The second he saw Vanessie's face change to a tearful smile, his heart warmed. He knew he did the right thing. He felt happy for Vanessie. He felt happy for himself.

"There's that smile." he said kindly.

"Thank you." Vanessie said in her hushed voice again. "Thank you very much. This means so much. You know you're saving my life, right?"

Randall blinked. He thought his actions were plain and simple. But being regarded as to saving her life? Were his actions that powerful. Then again, his love is powerful.

He shrugged. "Is that how you think of it?"

"Definitely." she said, smiling. She wiped away her tears and sniffed, composing herself. "It means so much."

Randall smiled. "I guess."

Vanessie giggled, her tears still spilling minimally. "Let's go ask."

Vanessie was too nervous to ask the boss if she and Randall could take the rest of the day off, so Randall volunteered to do so for her. Besides, she still had pink, moist eyes and the request would make her feel awkward. Nonetheless, he felt confident to ask for her. He was sure that Sulley would understand Vanessie's issue and allow them to move her things. Of course, Randall didn't want to feel that he gets the day off because he and Sulley knew each other; he negotiated that he would take away a vacation day. Vanessie agreed on hers as well. In the end, Sulley gladly let them go. Before Randall walked out of Sulley's office, letting Vanessie go first being the gentleman he is, he looked back and saw Sulley wink at him. He probably thought that Randall did this to take their relationship to another level. He didn't want to think it like that. He wanted to make Vanessie happy, and doing this would make that happen.

The two called a moving truck and they helped each other haul in the furniture. Vanessie marked the furniture she wanted to be sold with a yellow sticky note and the ones she wanted to keep with green ones. One of the things she kept was the scarlet sofa. She loved it so for its comfort. Randall needed a sofa, anyway.

But when Vanessie was carrying her small table outside, inside Randall was about to adjust the sofa so he and Vanessie could carry it when she returns for it. But her batcat came and rested on it impulsively. She licked her paw as Randall huffed in annoyance.

"Furball, who gave you the invitation?" he asked sternly.

"Mow," the kitten replied. 'I did. The couch is mine.' Randall thought was the translation.

Randall bent down to see the kitten face to face, "You should thank me, kid. I persuaded her to keep you."

Then suddenly, the kitten lifted its arm and poked the lizard before her curiously. She didn't retract her claws. All Randall felt was the mitten-like paw poking his face gently. Then she pulled back her arm and leaned over to sniff Randall's face. He tried to compose himself, but he broke into a soft chuckle when he felt Chimmy's whiskers tickle his face scales. Then she rubbed her face against his. Randall chuckled again.

"So, we have a truce, then?" he asked the kitten. "You won't be stubborn with me?"

"Mow," Chimmy rubbed her furry cheek against his eye.

"Then be a good girl and get off the couch?"

Chimmy mewed and hopped off the couch, continuing her affection by rubbing herself against Randall's legs.

"You're such a flirt. Your mom won't like that"

Just then Vanessie came back to the apartment and spotted Randall with Chimmy at his feet. She giggled at the sight. Randall turned his head and grinned.

"Is she sucking up to you?" Vanessie laughed.

"Probably," he said.

"You know that she owns you now, right?"

"Owns me?" Randall asked, squinting his eyes. He felt the kitten playing with his tail with clawless paws. He held the cat coiled in his tail to make her stop, and she did, staring at him with big, blackened eyes.

"Yeah, when a cat rubs all over you with their heads, it means that they claim ownership for you. And she claimed to own you now." Vanessie explained, giggling.

Randall looked back at the cat he held on his tail, still staring at him. She licked her nose.

"Is she right, kid? Is it true? You own me now?" Randall asked, bringing his tail in so he could carry Chimmy in his hands.

"Mew," she said, her yellow-green eyes glistening.

Vanessie giggled. "You sure you two'll be fine together?"

"I'm sure. We're hitting it off pretty well from now on. Right, squirt?" Randall inquired the kitten.

Chimmy placed a paw on Randall's face sincerely and said an agreeable, "Mow,"

Randall chuckled as he put down the kitten on the floor. "I never thought I'd say this, but... I think I could be a cat person."

"That's great. I wouldn't want to move in if it meant having misunderstandings between you two." Vanessie laughed. "And you two ARE stubborn."

Randall chuckled again. Then he motioned to the couch. "Come on. Let's get this out."

"This'll be hard." Vanessie said, stretching her arms to prepare for the task.

"On three." Randall said, keeping hold to one side of the couch.

"Okay,"

"One,"

"Two,"

"Three,"

Vanessie sucked her breath as she tried to lift her side of the couch. Randall led them to the door carefully and out, but Vanessie had to drop her load right then.

"You okay?" Randall asked her, concerned.

"I'm alright," she replied. "Just taking a small rest. I'm not exactly built for lifting tons."

Randall laughed. After a few seconds, he asked her, "You ready?"

"Yeah, let's go for another."

They stopped two more times before they made it to the truck with the couch successfully. The two sat on the back of the open truck to rest. Vanessie was panting and beads of sweat began to flow down her forehead.

"I think that's enough lifting for one day." Randall grinned.

"For a month," Vanessie smiled, then coughed. "Oh, man, I need water."

"You okay?" Randall asked, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"Yeah," she said between coughs. "Just a little dehydrated. I forgot to drink something today."

"Stay right here. I'll be right back." Randall said as he sprinted into the complex and into Vanessie's apartment. He knew exactly what was going on. He knew a lot of monsters that were aquatic species, and how they couldn't live without at least a drink of water each day. He grabbed a cup from one of the cupboards and turned the faucet to fill it with water. As soon as it reached the top, he ran back down and outside and gave it to Vanessie. Up close, he could see her face become a little grey, and her eyes slightly heavy. She took the glass.

"Thank you," she said with a sullen smile and began to drink. Randall watched her drink the water and noticed how she thirstily ran it down her rising and falling throat. When she was done, she wiped off a drop running down her mouth and breathed in deeply. "I needed that."

"Any later and it could've been worse," Randall said.

"Yeah," she laughed softly. "It's the annoying thing about being an aquatic monster; I have to have some kind of liquid water all the time."

"Don't like water, huh?"

"Water's boring," Vanessie said, smiling. "That's why I stick to coffee and tea."

"Well, tea and coffee have water in them, do they?"

"Yeah, I love the flavor." she giggled, then her smile faded. "Still, I couldn't eat either."

"You were worried."

"Very," she lowered her lashes. Randall realized again how beautiful Vanessie was when she's vibrantly alive. He never wanted to see her in her grey state. "It felt like I was a teenager again... With nothing to do, nowhere to go. I could've been with nothing."

Randall laid a hand on her shoulder. "But you've got me."

She looked up at him and blinked. A smile rose again. "That's right." she said. Then what she did surprised him to no end. She closed her eyes, leaned towards him and kissed him below his eye, just where his scar used to be. He disappeared in a flash, but reverted his visibility before Vanessie could notice his "blushing" once she opens her eyes. His eyes were wide open and he felt where her lips touched. Vanessie blushed.

"I'm sorry," she said, hugging her waist nervously. "Was that too much?"

"N-no." Randall lied. Though he liked the affectionate gesture, it was out of random. He wished he were warned about it. "It's... It's just that no one besides my mother ever... Ever..."

"Kissed you?" Vanessie said, raising her shoulder as if to cover her flushed face.

"Yeah, exactly." Randall replied. "It was unexpected. But thank you."

"You're welcome." Vanessie said, twirling a strand of her bangs around her finger. "But to let you know, it's a way of saying thank you. For doing this for me."

He turned his head to her and smiled. "It's no problem."

Then Vanessie stood up confidently and said, "Well, let's get a move on. Vamanos."

"I'll get the furball." Randall said as he began walking inside the complex one last time.

He stepped into the apartment and found the cat sunbathing on the sun-spilled carpet. He bent down and extended his arms to her.

"Come on, squirt. Time to go." he said.

The kitten stood up and walked between his hands. He grabbed her and carried her to him. She purred and cuddled his neck.

"Now, don't be such a kiss-ass." Randall chuckled.

He was about to leave the apartment when he looked about the room quietly. He looked at the middle of the room where her small couch used to be and remembered when they made up to one another and began their friendship. He looked to the right wall and remembered the time when she applied scar-healing cream on his wound. He smelled the air in the room and remembered the coffee and tea visits he made with Vanessie. But most of all, he thought of what Vanessie would think of the room after one last look.

Then he heard her voice.

"So many memories in here," she said. "I used to live here all my life. Since my birth."

Randall listened to her attentively.

She took a few steps into the room and looked around. "Mommy would tell me how much she felt blessed when she carried me to the apartment with Daddy, for the first time. How she would spoil me in those first years of me living. She would kiss my face, stroke my cheeks and make me laugh so she could hear the sweetness of it. Then how she would fix me up for school and she would be nervous for me on my own. Then her excitement for me before I went to prom. Everything was here. I'm gonna miss it."

"It'll be for the best," Randall said. "I promise you."

Vanessie nodded. "It's a new start. A new beginning. There's room for change in life."

"Change," Randall said. "Winds of change."

"Exactly." she said. She took a deep breath and faced Randall. She smiled. "Come on. Let's get going."

Randall stood aside from the doorway, returning her expression. "After you."

Before Vanessie passed Randall, she looked at him, deep in the eyes and said, "Winds of change. I see that in you, too."

Randall was still standing on the opened doorway when Vanessie walked halfway down the hallway. He repeated what she said in his mind. He knew the change in his life, but he never noticed the significance of it all. How could this have happened?

"Mow?" Chimmy mewed in inquiry.

Randall patted the batcat's head and asked her, "You see it in me, too?"

Chimmy sniffed him and thought for a moment. Then she answered, "Mew."

"I thought so." Randall chuckled.

After three hours, Randall's apartment was fixed up and done with Vanessie's chosen furniture to stay.

Before, they went to a used furniture store and they sold Vanessie's unwanted items there. In all, they got back a little over $300. Randall let her keep it all. Then they went to his apartment and when they arrived, he realized that Vanessie never went to his place before. He didn't worry much about it; he's been retaining his organization skills and felt that it doesn't look bad for his new guest. And she was impressed in the end.

"Wow, it's calm here." Vanessie said as she looked around the apartment, smiling. "Very serene. And it smells like coffee. Perfect."

"I'm glad you like it." Randall said. He looked down and motioned the shy kitten below him to come inside, welcoming her. "Come on, kid. Don't be afraid. Look, your mother's doing fine with her new home."

The kitten looked at Vanessie and back at Randall. She mewed and walked close to the lizard.

"You want me to escort you?" Randall asked. Chimmy looked up in response with her black-pupiled eyes. "Alright."

He walked slowly and the batcat followed near. When they entered the center of the room, he figured Chimmy gained confidence after she quickened her pace. Then she went to where the sun spilled on the carpet floor and threw herself lazily on it, stretching in pleasure. Randall chuckled. "You're welcome."

He and Vanessie helped each other place in the furniture again. Vanessie felt stronger after heavily lifting the objects and felt proud of it. Even though she panted just as much after they finished.

"Want some coffee?" Randall asked.

"Yes, please?" Vanessie asked, her body splayed lethargically over the red couch.

Randall walked over to the coffee maker, began brewing the coffee and filled the pot with water. He prepared it and let it sit for a few minutes.

Then Vanessie listlessly lifted herself to look outside. "You have a lovely balcony." she said drowsily. "Is that a bench there?"

Randall grinned. "Yeah. It was there when I bought the apartment."

"And I see a little corner for a garden." she said. "Used to be there once?"

"Yeah, I'm not a flower person. I mean, they're very pretty and all. It's just that I can't take care of them." he said, then smiled at her. "But if you want to start a garden, feel free to fix it up. As you Mexicans say, 'Mi casa es su casa.'"

"You said it so lame." she laughed tiredly.

Randall laughed. "Don't ever count on my Spanish."

"Still, a garden sounds nice." Vanessie said with a yawn.

"You that tired?" Randall asked her as he noticed her drowsiness. "It's only the afternoon."

"Yeah, I was so stressed last night. I woke up in the middle of the night and I couldn't sleep." she smiled with heavy eyelids. "Hold my coffee then. I'll have some tomorrow and heat it up."

"Sure thing." Randall said. "

He looked back and saw Vanessie make herself comfortable on the couch she laid on and he shook his head. "No, no, no, no, no," he said. He scurried before her and shook her shoulder gently. She blinked and looked up at him.

"What's wrong?" she mumbled.

"Nothing," Randall laughed softly. "Nothing, it's just that I can't find it in my conscience to have you sleep here."

"Then where do I sleep?"

"You can take my bed." Randall said.

Vanessie stared at him. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I don't mind. Really," he replied.

Vanessie sat up and rubbed her eyes. She extended her hand and said, "I don't wanna lose my sleep. Lead me, please?"

Randall smiled and took her hand. He led her to his bedroom door, opened it, and entered it. He felt the softness of her dainty, feminine hand and how elegant it looked. He took her to his bed and he pulled her hand gently to the comforter. He pulled it back and prepared it for Vanessie to use. When he was done, he held her by the shoulders to set her down. She knew where she was and she didn't hesitate to lie on the bed. As soon as she got comfortable, Randall pulled the covers over her. She purred.

"I needed this," she said happily.

"Sleep as long as you want." Randall said. "I'll close the door."

"Thank you, Randy," Vanessie said before she drifted off to sleep.

Randall smiled as he looked down at her and patted her back. Before he closed the door, he whispered, "Good night."

He quietly sat on the couch after he grabbed a mug of coffee and breathed in. He found it impossible that the girl he was in love with is just behind his bedroom door. But he wanted to respect her at the same time. He loved her too much to mess around with her. He would take care of her. He would make sure she's happy.

Then he was visited by the curious Chimmy. "Meow,"

"You like it here, huh?" Randall asked.

The kitten buzzed her wings and hovered up to be with Randall, but ended up hanging on the edge like a cliff. Randall helped her and carried her up to safety. Chimmy then cuddled herself next to the reptile and purred when he petted her.

"I thought so,"


End file.
